THE HOW BIG TECH EVADES STUDENT PRIVACY LAWS, P6 INDYPENDENT #258: OCTOBER 2020

DIARY OF THE NYC LEFT THE INDY’S GREATEST HITS, ITS ZANIEST MOMENTS & HOW IT BECAME A NEW YORK INSTITUTION

2 TARKELA MIKAEL JOHN TARLETON, P16 2

THE INDYPENDENT

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THE INDYPENDENT Smith, and Becky Vaughan. 212-904-1282 • [email protected] 3 IN THIS ISSUE

THE NEWS IN BRIEF, P4 Cops vex food vendors, pandemic slams renters, hard hats demand justice, Industry City victory, NYC “anarchy.” SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM IN THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOM, P6 As more classrooms go online, profi t-hungry ed tech companies fi nd it easy to ignore student privacy requirements. SOCIALIST SQUAD, P8 With 35 seats opening up due to term limits, the New York City Council could shift dramatically to the left in 2021. AUSTERITY OR LIBERATION?, P11 NYC’s powerful real estate industry has been rocked by the 2O pandemic. But will working-class New Yorkers pay the price? SWING DANCE, P12 One group of New Yorkers is fi nding a way to make a difference in the handful of states that will decide the 2020 presidential election. ONE SLOPPY JOE, PLEASE, P13 A Biden victory would be a band-aid, not a cure. But the alternative is unfathomably worse. 20-YEAR ODYSSEY, P16 A longtime Indy editor looks back on the implausible history of NYC’s last great newspaper and what the left can learn from the experience. ANOTHER JOURNALISM IS POSSIBLE, P18 Highlights from two decades of The Indy’s best coverage. TESTIMONIALS, P20 Some of our favorite readers share their thoughts on what “a free paper for free people” means for New York City. SO YOU WANT A FREE PRESS, P22 Fearless independent journalism can only survive with the support of its readers. Find out how you can do your part. FROM MEGA-EXPLOSION TO MUTUAL AID, P26 What do you do when your dysfunctional government causes a humanitarian disaster and is too inept to repair the damage? Ask the people of Beirut. DON’T LET THE MUSIC DIE, P28 Independent music venues and the artists they feature have been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. But help may be on the way. HOMELESS LIT, P30 A former vice presidential candidate has written a novel that humanizes the homeless for young adults, and the rest of us too. DAVID GRAEBER, PRESENTE P32 A friend and former collaborator of anarchist anthropologist David Graeber looks back on the remarkable life of the man who helped coin the slogan “We are the 99%.” THE TRUMP HELP HOTLINE, P34 The planet’s on fi re and so is Reverend Billy, plus how to resist a stolen election. INDY 2020 October RADIO NEWS INDYPENDENT THE

Tune in on Monday evenings from 6:00 to 6:30 pm on 99.5 FM for the WBAI Evening News presented by THE INDYPENDENT. The show features writers and sources from The Indy’s biggest articles. Hosted by John Tarleton. Also available via streaming at WBAI.ORG. Indypendent Ad 5x7 06-23-15.pdf 1 6/23/15 1:56 PM 4 BROADCAST ON MORE THAN 1,300 PUBLIC TV AND RADIO STATIONS WORLDWIDE A Daily Independent Global News Hour with Amy Goodman and Juan González STEVEN WISHNIA STEVEN

BRIEFING AN INJURY TO ONE: Construction workers rally near Penn Station Sept. 15 to demand ROOM the end to the “body shop” BY INDYPENDENT STAFF system of supplying low-wage nonunion labor to contractors. DEMOCRACYNOW.ORG COPS STILL GIVING STREET FOOD CONSTRUCTION Tune In Live Every Weekday 8-9am ET VENDORS $500 WORKERS PROTEST • Audio, Video, Transcripts, Podcasts TICKETS ‘MODERN DAY City police are still handing out summons- SLAVERY’ • Los titulares de Hoy (headlines in Spanish) es to street vendors despite Mayor Bill de Wearing orange-and-black facemasks and Blasio’s June promise to phase them out. waving “I AM Worthy” signs, more than • Find your local broadcast station and schedule “Unlawful vending can adversely affect lo- 200 construction workers rallied near Penn cal businesses and quality of life,” patrol Station Sept. 15, as Laborers Union locals • Subscribe to the Daily News Digest chief Fausto Pichardo posted on Twitter launched a campaign against the “body Sept. 14 after a sweep in the World Trade shop” system of supplying low-wage non- Follow Us @ DEMOCRACYNOW Center area. “Why do I have to feel like union labor to contractors. “It’s modern- a criminal if I’m just working?” food ven- day slavery,” John Simmons, who worked dor Nabil Boussbaa, who got a $500 ticket for a Long Island body shop that adver- for having his cart less than 12 feet from a tises itself as “a non-union, non-prevailing crosswalk, told The City. (The legal mini- wage” company, told the crowd. These “Arundhati Roy is one mum is 10 feet.) The Street Vendor Project, companies, which have provided labor to of the most con dent which supports vendors’ rights, estimates major local construction projects, usually and original thinkers that about 20,000 peddlers sell food and pay minimum wage and often hire parol- of our time.” other things on city streets, but the num- ees, who can be sent back to prison if they ber of permits to sell food legally has been don’t stay employed. —Naomi Klein capped at roughly 3,000 since 1983. About 1,350 people are on the waiting list, and “Roy’s . . . non ctional City Councilmember Margaret Chin (D- REPORT: PANDEMIC engagement with the Manhattan) has introduced a bill that SLAMS NYC con
icts and traumas of would increase the number of permits. RENTERS a heedlessly globalized As many as four-fi fths of New York City tenants are having trouble paying rent world has manifested INDUSTRY CITY during the COVID-19 epidemic, the Met- the virtues of an ABANDONS ropolitan Council on Housing said in a un
inching emotional BROOKLYN report issued in September. The tenants’- as well as political REZONING rights group’s survey of 406 people who intelligence. . . . She Industry City CEO Andrew Kimball an- contacted it found that almost two-thirds continues to oer nounced Sept. 22 that he was dropping had already been spending more than 30 his application to have the city rezone the percent of their income on rent, and 79 bracing ways of 35-acre industrial complex on the Brook- percent had been laid off from work or seeing, thinking, lyn waterfront. The $1 billion project, the had their hours cut. Met Council’s tenant and feeling.” largest private rezoning application in the hotline is 212-979-0611. —Pankaj Mishra city’s history, would have converted former warehouses and lofts to offi ce, retail, and “No writer today, in India academic space. Opponents said it would NYC IS A WHAT? have accelerated gentrifi cation in the large- President Trump took aim at his former or anywhere in the world, ly Latino Sunset Park neighborhood and hometown and three other U.S. cities Sept. writes with the kind of not brought the jobs the developers prom- 2, designating New York; Seattle; Portland, beautiful, piercing prose in ised. Kimball blamed “the current political Ore.; and Washington, D.C., “anarchist defense of the wretched of environment and a lack of leadership.” Lo- jurisdictions” and instructing federal agen- the earth that Roy does.” cal City Councilmember Carlos Menchaca cies to look for ways to deny aid to these —Joel Whitney, Jacobin had announced his opposition in July, and Democrat-led cities. earlier in the day Sept. 22, four of Brook- Leaders of the targeted cities were lyn’s six House members sent a letter tell- quick to respond. “This has nothing to ing the Council that the rezoning would do with ‘law and order,’” tweeted New October 2020 exacerbate displacement of renters and York City mayoral spokesperson Bill Nei- eliminate one of the city’s “few remaining dhardt. “This is a racist campaign stunt manufacturing hubs.” The Protect Sunset out of the Oval Offi ce to attack millions Park group, which collected more than of people of color.” 3,500 signatures on a petition against the rezoning, proclaimed a victory “against racist city planning” that was “truly a feat

THE INDYPENDENT of everyday people power.” 5 October 2020 October THE INDYPENDENT THE 6PUBLIC EDUCATION DAVID HOLLENBACH DAVID

“Distance learning was kind of a disaster for us,” these terms, and we are phasing out or swiftly updating Carrie McLaren, a Brooklyn mother of a 12-year-old contracts that do not have the proper protections.” son, tells The Indypendent. Suddenly, she said, his Noncompliance is a trend Amelia Vance of the Future of education was fi ltered through the internet and You- Privacy Forum has observed nationwide. ONE Tube — and “YouTube would love for your child to “Very few educators have actually been trained in any- stay on YouTube all day long.” Educational videos as- thing regarding student privacy,” she explains to The Indy. signed by teachers quickly led her son down “rabbit “So [in the spring] you ended up with a lot of educators and holes,” the inevitable result of a platform primed for administrators who were adopting programs that didn’t meet KEYSTROKE engagement rather than education. It makes sense, she privacy standards.” says: These resources are easily accessible and schools At the same time, the New York City and school districts “were just totally overwhelmed by distance learning.” across the country have spent hundreds of millions of dollars WiFi networks in schools often block sites that on tech for students. AT A TIME are overly distracting, house explicit content, or oth- Fundamentally, this spending is critical to ensure equity: erwise pose a risk to students. Now, limiting what Online learning heightens underlying racial and class dispari- AMID DISTANCE LEARNING BOOM, children look at as they learn online falls on parents. ties, in part because of serious gaps in access to broadband Federal law prohibits the personal data collection of and technology. Without universal access to learning soft- ED TECH COMPANIES PROFIT FROM users under 13, but privacy is still a concern — as is ware and the internet, students cannot have universal access predatory advertising. to education. LAX PRIVACY OVERSIGHT “My son’s education and well-being are irrelevant Yet city lawmakers have questioned the particulars of the to Google,” Mclaren says. “Google’s business model expenses. In March, the city’s Department of Education opted is to grab and hold the attention of users, and to cre- to purchase iPads for students, a towering $270 million invest- By Katya Schwenk atively profi t from their data.” The online behemoth has re- ment. That fi gure includes another $40.5 million to IBM, to peatedly faced charges of student data misuse, though it claims install software in the iPads. t the beginning of May, Gov. Andrew Cuomo its products are privacy protective. The details of its contracts “This is such a waste of money,” City Councilman Ben Kal- announced a plan to “revolutionize” education. with New York City schools, though, are mostly not public. los told the in April. “For what they spent on an iPad, they The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he said, Like districts around the country, New York City struggled could have bought a full functioning laptop for every kid in the would mastermind it, assembling a task force of to balance the messy transition to distance learning with the system. Instead, we got a bunch of iPads which don’t really cre- experts to create a blueprint for a new kind of potential ramifi cations of using tech platforms for education. ate equity when families have laptops and broadband.” Alearning, one that would last beyond the pandemic and the In April, the DOE banned Zoom, citing security concerns Aixa Rodriguez, a high school teacher and the founder of chaotic fi rst weeks of online education. with the platform, like so-called “Zoom-bombing,” but has the advocacy group Bronx Educators United for Justice, echoes “It’s about time,” Cuomo said at a press conference. “The since reversed that ban. City offi cials say they have worked Kallos’s concerns. “The iPads were the biggest fail,” she says. old model of everybody goes and sits in the classroom and the with Zoom on a new, “tailored” platform, but the details of “I had so many kids struggle. Writing a research paper — iPads teacher is in front of that classroom and teaches that class and the city’s contract with the company, like its relationship with were not conducive to that. And they weren’t giving extra tech you do that all across the city, all across the state, all these Google, remain murky. to these kids. They wouldn’t give an external keyboard. I need buildings, all these physical classrooms.” In 2014, New York State adopted several strong, and proper tech and that was not the proper tech at all.” “Why,” he asked, “with all the technology you have?” hard-won, privacy requirements for vendors that handle stu- The iPads were a reminder that education technology is no The backlash was swift. dent data. Among other things, the law requires that contrac- panacea. It can also widen or reinforce inequities. “Bill Gates Is Not the Man to Reimagine New York Edu- tors not sell students’ personal data, and that a “parents’ bill Vance worries that the growing popularity of online be- cation,” read the headline of one Forbes piece, recalling the of rights” be included in all contracts, which outlines strict havior management platforms or other high-tech metrics to Gates Foundation’s troubled history with high-tech education guidelines for third-party use of student data. New state regu- evaluate students’ participation or performance could lead to reform. New York City educators and school administrators lations, passed in January, mandated that some contract in- discrimination. Schools across the city, for example, use a plat- were incensed to learn that the Cuomo-Gates task force in- formation for these vendors be made public. New York City form called “ClassDojo” to evaluate and track students’ be- cluded no New York City school offi cials. is still catching up. havior — long controversial among privacy advocates. These The city’s schools had their online reopening on Sept. 21, “A lot of school districts are not prepared to comply with systems have also been criticized for automating discrimina- and some in-person classes began Sept. 21, with more slated to the privacy requirements of the law, which require transparency tory classroom discipline, which, even without algorithms, al- reopen for partial in-person learning on Sept. 29 and Oct. 1, and no use of data for commercial purposes or marketing,” ready targets Black children at higher rates. barring strikes or more delays. Since May, little has been made says Leonie Haimson, executive director of the local nonprofi t “I worry that parents and students might be surprised on public about the progress of the Gates initiative in New York. Class Size Matters and longtime student privacy advocate. “I their fi rst report card, because some of the analytics don’t cap- But the whole affair, for many, was emblematic of an educa- don’t think anybody’s really making sure that is happening.” ture the information that administrators might think they do,” tion system ever more beholden to Silicon Valley and the edu- Of several contracts that Haimson provided to The Vance says. cation technology industry. Advocates have long argued that Indy, obtained via public records requests and dating from Haimson concurs. “One of the most dangerous forms of high-tech reformist initiatives like Gates’ brainchild, the Com- 2014 to 2016, none included the full list of requisite pri- privatization is outsourcing instruction, assessment and behav- mon Core, served corporate interests more than those of stu- vacy stipulations from the 2014 state law. The Department ior management to these private, for-profi t companies. October 2020 dents. They have warned, too, that the growth of the for-profi t of Education has also not made public a complete account- “That was happening at a very fast pace even before the education and testing sector has made way for exploitative ing of contracts that implicate student data, as is required pandemic,” she says. Now, the trend has accelerated. student data practices, despite relatively strong federal privacy by the January law — though the city has until Oct. 1 to legislation for youth. Now that learning is necessarily online, do so. the trend has only accelerated. The city says its more recent contracts are compliant As students return to school, some New York parents with state law. “And our contract renewals also have and advocates are calling for additional oversight of these appropriate, compliant terms,” a spokesperson wrote

THE INDYPENDENT technology-saturated classrooms. to The Indy. “Many of our ongoing agreements include

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N O E REIMAGINING W N S B Y COMMUNITY SAFETY VILLE ED-STU AND POLICING II A Virtual Town Hall sponsored by Brooklyn For Peace Sign Our Petition! ¡Firma la petición! Oct. 8, 6:30pm It’s time to reimagine the policies that can best promote public safety and well-being, particularly in communities of color. noNBKpipeline.org We need to cut the $6 billion/year budget of a heavily militarized police department and end the school-to-prison We deserve safe, healthy homes. pipeline. Instead, let’s provide greater funding for schools, parks, mental health, housing, and jobs programs. We demand action on climate. Attend our Town Hall and hear two outstanding advocates Merecemos hogares seguros y saludables. discuss new strategies and practices for transformative justice Exigimos acciones sobre el cambio climatico.

Alex Vitale, Brooklyn College professor & author of The End of Policing 2020 October

Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson, Exec. Pastor, Concord Baptist Church Future Events • Eventos Futuros 9/18 9/19 9/20 9/26 3-day outdoor theater March with the community Register now for Zoom link: bit.ly/rethink-police INDYPENDENT THE performances FREE Marcha con la comunidad Teatro al aire libre de 3 días BROOKLYN FOR PEACE FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: actuaciones GRATIS BROOKLYNPEACE.ORG [email protected] | 718-624-5921 @brooklyn4peace noNBKpipeline.org/events 8NYC POLITICS GARY MARTIN GARY

behind, socialists have already announced candida- Such a change would be required, for instance, to es- cies in all fi ve boroughs. In Brooklyn’s 39th district tablish an Elected Civilian Review Board (ECRB), a strong alone, which stretches from Park Slope to Cobble mechanism for police accountability, which activists have Hill, three socialists are seeking the offi ce. been advocating for years. Unlike the Civilian Complaint RED WAVE “There are folks in this City Council who have Review Board, which is appointed by the mayor, police been there for quite some time who have gotten very commissioner and City Council, an ECRB would be elected comfortable and are not responding to the current by and accountable to voters. political moment with the urgency that they should Kristin Richardson Jordan, a democratic socialist and third- RISING be,” says Chi Anunwa, co-chair of DSA’s New York generation Harlem resident running to represent Manhattan’s City chapter (an organization to which this reporter District 9, supports an ECRB as a transitional measure on the HOW A SOCIALIST SQUAD COULD belongs). “This is true for the failure to meaningful- road to police abolition. “They would have the power to fi re ly defund the police and it’s also true for housing. I and suspend local police offi cers,” says Jordan. “I think that TRANSFORM CITY COUNCIL think the left could potentially do a lot around those would change the whole culture and nature of policing.” issues with fresh blood.” It’s unclear how ranked- By Jordan G. Teicher choice voting, which will debut in IN NEXT YEAR’S the 2021 elections, will impact the n the early hours of July 1, Brandon West watched as prospects for insurgent City Council ELECTIONS, 35 OF the City Council voted on the 2021 fi scal year budget. campaigns. But if the slew of socialist He hoped it would fail. victories in New York State legisla- West, a democratic socialist running to represent ture races this summer is any indica- THE CITY COUNCIL’S Brooklyn’s 39th district in the City Council, had tion, a red wave in the City Council beenI in the streets for weeks demanding the city cut NYPD is a real possibility, potentially mark- 51 MEMBERS WILL funding, and had helped organize the Occupy City Hall en- ing the biggest shift in the council’s campment. That night, he’d wanted to be at City Hall with makeup since the progressive class BE TERM-LIMITED those protesting the budget, which signifi cantly cut funds elected alongside Mayor Bill de Bla- for virtually everything except for the NYPD, but the night sio in 2013. OUT OF OFFICE, before, he’d been injured in an altercation with police there. “Generally speaking, that class Instead, he was at home taking ibuprofen, disappointed but was very conventionally center-left,” not surprised as the fi nal vote, 32-17, fl ashed across the live says Ross Barkan, a columnist at The PRESENTING A RARE stream playing on his computer. Guardian and a former State Senate Of the 17 councilmembers who voted no, he noted, candidate. “It was not looking to CHANCE TO ALTER only nine believed the cuts to the NYPD weren’t meaning- really signifi cantly upend the status ful enough. quo in any way and it was largely THE BALANCE OF “I knew we didn’t have the votes. I wasn’t expecting deferential to the mayor. The next something magical to happen,” he says. “But to essential- City Council will probably be very, POWER IN THE ly have these folks in City Council ignore what was going very different.” on — it hurt.” For West, the budget crystallized the need for a major LEGISLATIVE BODY. shakeup in city government. As he sees it, establishment RADICAL REFORMS Democrats in City Council won’t push for the kinds of radi- A charter revision would also be required to dramatically cal changes needed to meaningfully address New York’s cri- What a squad of socialists in the council could actually overhaul the city’s piecemeal approach to planning, which ses of economic and racial injustice. But if elected, he says, achieve depends to a large extent on how many get elected. has a signifi cant impact on issues such as gentrifi cation, af- socialists will. While any number of socialists would make a difference in fordable housing and homelessness. “Are we going to have these small reforms that are going the districts they serve, it would take a fairly substantial “We’re in a position right now where land-use changes to potentially make things better or are we going to erase number to make a citywide impact. Ten socialists, for in- end up being fought out on this rezoning by rezoning basis October 2020 the structures of injustice and create alternatives?” he says. stance, could profoundly infl uence the election of the coun- with one councilmember having a great deal of power and “That is the real difference.” cil speaker, the second-most powerful position in city gov- often either passing it against the will of their constituents In next November’s elections, 35 of the City Council’s 51 ernment. That election, in turn, would affect the selection of or saying no and then taking a huge political hit for it,” says members will be term-limited out of offi ce, presenting a rare powerful committee chairmen and the day-to-day priorities Samuel Stein, a housing policy analyst for the Community chance to alter the balance of power in the legislative body. of the council — both powers of the speaker. The speaker Service Society of New York and author of Capital City: While the New York City chapter of the Democratic Social- also helps determine the composition of a Charter Revision Gentrifi cation and the Real Estate State. A charter revision, ists of America (DSA) hasn’t yet announced how many races Commission, which can propose major changes to the struc-

THE INDYPENDENT it will throw its endorsement and signifi cant volunteer labor ture and function of the city’s government. Continued on page 10 9

M A R IA O R D O Ñ E Z IS A D E M O C R A T IC S O C IA L IS T R U N N IN G F O R C IT Y C O U N C IL IN D IS T R IC T 7

M A R IA W IL L F IG H T F O R :

H o u s in g fo r A ll, Cancel Rent, and an E v ic tio n M o ra to riu m

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PhotoCredit: Corey Torpie

S c a n th is c o d e to h e lp M a ria b u ild a S o c ia lis t M o v e m e n t o r g o to : October 2020 October M ARIAORDONEZ.NYC | @ MARIAORDONEZNYC

D IS T R IC T 7 : UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN VALLEY, WEST HARLEM, MANHATTANVILLE,

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, HAMILTON HEIGHTS, WASHINGTON HEIGHTS INDYPENDENT THE

P A ID F O R B Y M A R IA O R D O N E Z 2 0 2 1 10

mo refuses to raise taxes, and the city is RED WAVE RISING not allowed to borrow money, no matter Continued from page 8 how left-wing the City Council is, it’ll be quite difficult to enact real change. That Stein says, could lead to a comprehensive, costs money,” says Barkan. “You can citywide planning model that brings land- change laws, but the big stuff will be very use decisions under community control hard to do.” and could help fulfill the socialist aim of a housing guarantee. In the absence of charter revisions, so- WIELDING THE BULLY PULPIT cialist councilmembers could still shift the needle on both policing and land use sim- In the face of austerity and opposition ply by exercising powers that have been across city and state government, the coun- largely neglected in the past. cil’s relatively small size compared to the Instead of letting the police department state legislature means leftist councilmem- operate as a “private fiefdom,” Barkan bers would have a significant bully pulpit says, a socialist caucus could much more to build their movement. Just ask Alder- aggressively monitor the department by man Andre Vasquez, who was elected to bringing NYPD officers and leaders into Chicago’s City Council last spring along the council for hearings and investigations. with five other socialists. Likewise, according to Stein, a group Having socialists in government ampli- of socialists could band together and use fying the concerns of fellow activists and councilmembers’ often-ignored ability to labor organizers and informing their cam- proactively propose community-led land paigns, he says, is “incredibly powerful.” use plans for their districts. In that way, When the Chicago Teachers Union went they could collectively reimagine broad on strike for two weeks in the fall, for in- swaths of the city. stance, “they knew that they had us on the While all those changes could be mean- front line” and the socialist caucus’s sup- ingful, the 2023 budget is the arena where port ultimately “added more leverage to PAID FOR BY THE COMMITTEE TO ELECT CECILIA CORTEZ FOR CITY COUNCIL socialists potentially have the biggest op- their conversation.” portunity to remake the city — but it’s also Passing socialist legislation, however, an issue of great uncertainty. If Democrats has proven challenging. Vasquez and the win the White House and the Senate and rest of the Council’s socialist caucus were then send direct federal COVID aid to state elected on a platform of putting the city’s and local governments, socialist council- police force and its power provider under members could push for that money to democratic control, establishing an elected fund a recovery program that centers mu- school board, and placing a moratorium nicipal projects over private development. on charter schools, among other measures. “Public infrastructure, public housing, As those initiatives come up against institu- public works: that’s how we’re going to tional opposition, Vasquez says, members dig ourselves out of the sinkhole that we’re of the caucus now find themselves split on in,” says Victoria Cambranes, a democrat- how to best navigate the political terrain. ic socialist and native Brooklynite running “There are some of us who understand for City Council in the 33rd District. that we don’t have the numbers and want Socialists, along with some of the pro- to continue railing against the system be- gressive councilmembers who opposed the cause that causes the kind of tension that 2021 budget, would also be in a stronger raises awareness,” he says. “Others of us position to divert money away from the look and say, ‘There are 50 council mem- NYPD toward social services. bers, and we need to get to 26 votes, so “It’s not all about the socialists that let’s build relationships with colleagues ...to the end that human rights are more we get into that body, although we want who aren’t democratic socialists and figure to get as many as we can,” says Justin out how we can get to those numbers and sacred than property rights. Charles, a member of DSA’s National Po- affect change.’” litical Committee. “I think it’s about the If socialists end up a minority in the socialists being able to create space for New York City Council and face resis- other progressives to work in coalition tance from both the powerful mayor and with us toward the kind of vision that governor, similar deliberations — and their we’re putting forward.” accompanying frustrations — will surely The NYC Chapter of the If Republicans retain control of the occur. But socialists like West believe that White House and Congress, however, the such challenges in the City Council are National Lawyers Guild joins federal government will likely continue to worth confronting. Combined with move- hang state and local governments out to ment-building in places like Occupy City in celebrating 20 years of dry. In the absence of federal aid so far, Hall, working within the existing halls of Gov. Andrew Cuomo has refused to allow power represents a difficult road to change the city to borrow billions of dollars to pay — but still, perhaps, the best one available. The Indypendent’s dynamic for basic operating expenses and resisted “We’ve got to create the world we calls to raise taxes on millionaires and bil- want,” West says. “It’s less pie in the sky coverage of social struggle. lionaires to balance the State’s deficit. than it would have seemed before.” October 2020 Moreover, his recent move to take control of the New York State Financial Control Board, which was set up by the state in the 1970s, means he could be looking to exercise even greater power over the City’s finances and impose harsh NLGNYC.ORG austerity measures.

THE INDYPENDENT “If there’s no federal money, and Cuo- 11 NEOLIBERALISM THE

marxedproject.org FALL 2020

SATURDAYS•beginning OCTOBER 3 3:30 pm •11 week CLOSE READING via ZOOM KARL MARX HOUSING JUSTICE FOR ALL / @HOUSING4ALLNY ALL FOR JUSTICE HOUSING 1 LOUD & CLEAR: Amid a public health crisis, tenant NYC AFTER activists call for rent cancellation. scored big victories over the ravenous real estate in- with dustry. Tenant groups moved forward on rent regula- MARY BOGER tion and communities of color beat back Mayor Bill Capital is Karl Marx’s scientific COVID De Blasio’s rezoning plans that would have promoted presentation of the laws of motion of new development and displaced renters and home- capitalist development. He begins by STILL THE REAL ESTATE CAPITAL OF THE owners. These fi ghts have led some candidates and analyzing the fundamental or elemental elected offi cials to pledge they will take no money form which wealth takes in our society, WORLD? from real estate. Plans for new megaprojects, like the commodity. Understanding this form Sunnyside Yards in Queens, are facing early oppo- leads us to the most basic law that sition, building on the defeat of Amazon’s plan for grounds social reproduction in societies By Tom Angotti new development in Long Island City. As we struggle to get back to under the domination of capital, the law work and school and fi ght evictions, promises of more luxury con- of value. Therefore, our first task will be hile most New Yorkers have been locked in their dos plus a few “affordable” housing units will ring hollow. to break through the appearance and neighborhoods during the pandemic, the privi- reveal the social content of the leged ones left for the Hamptons and exotic es- commodity form. This begins the tates around the world. Manhattan offi ce and CHANGE THE POLITICAL CLASS & DEEPLY REFORM unraveling of the why and how of what we necessarily, under the domination retail spaces shuttered, the restaurant and hospi- GOVERNMENT and exploitation of capital, experience Wtality industries crumbled, and recently settled gentrifi ers went back every day in our lives. Challenge your to where they came from. The city’s powerful real estate industry While it will be a relief to get the growth machine off our backs, way of thinking and understanding the is coping with declining property values and rents and everyone is our community-based and labor movements face the challenge of world as it appears to you and begin to wondering who and what will survive the pandemic. building a serious set of alternatives. The seeds for these strategies identify some of what needs to be This new reality is leading many to question whether we are fac- are already planted in our neighborhoods and the question facing overcome and done to bring about a ing a new period of capital fl ight and fi scal austerity that will make us is how they can grow. better world. demands for deep change more diffi cult to achieve, as in the fi scal During De Blasio’s two terms, a new generation of progressives Other Classes All via ZOOM crisis of the 1970s. Or whether we are facing new opportunities for won seats on the City Council. More people of color occupy impor- MONDAYS • beginning OCTOBER 5 liberation from the clutches of fi nance and real estate. I think both tant positions in government. However, attempts at deep reforms 6:30 pm • 10 week CLASS & DISCUSSION obstacles and opportunities are real and worth understanding. have been monumentally frustrated. Some of this can be attributed BLOOD and MONEY to the power of the Democratic Party machinery, lobbyists and the TUESDAYS • beginning SEPTEMBER 29 sheer weight and complexity of the city’s bureaucracy. 6:30 pm • 11 week CLASS & DISCUSSION CONFRONTING AUSTERITY, DEMANDING Going forward, we must be careful that we don’t just back a The Invention of the FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE progressive-sounding mayor (we’ve been there before) but support White Race Volumes I & II more independent candidates who are not tainted by wealthy do- with SEAN AHERN Even if capital fl ight and austerity continue, New York City will nors and the machine. They should have roots in our diverse social likely remain a major node for global capitalism. Big real estate, movements and neighborhoods and bring new energy and ideas to WEDNESDAYS • beginning OCTOBER 7 6:00 pm • 6 week CLASS & DISCUSSION investment capital and wealthy New Yorkers survived the fi scal cri- government. However, good people and good government are not Realistic Metaphysics of the sis of the 1970s and are likely to survive this one. They are covet- enough. We need big, transformative proposals that are rooted in Materialist Conception of History ing their half-vacant towers, dazzling fi nger buildings and historic our historic social, community and antiracist struggles. As an ur- with SHANE MAGE brownstones. They will hold on until the market turns up again. banist from Brooklyn who has worked most of my career inside Already we are hearing many economists repeat their eternal cre- and outside government, I offer a few big ideas in this small space: THURSDAYS • beginning OCTOBER 8 7:00 pm • 10 week CLASS & DISCUSSION do that only new market-rate development can bring people back and save the city. They may accept billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s • Governance — Activists and experts with roots Women Write Against Fascism declaration that the mega-luxury Hudson Yards is the “last great in our communities need to fully understand and novels by Simone de Beauvoir, Natalia neighborhood in Manhattan,” but they still look greedily at the transform all of city government’s agency silos, one Ginzburg and Elfraide Jelinek privatization of Manhattan’s public housing and conversion of the by one, so they respond to the needs of neighbor- SPECIAL APPEARANCE remaining small manufacturers and retailers into upscale boutiques. hoods and not lobbyists. FRIDAY, NOV 27 • 2:00 to 4:00 pm In the main, however, big real estate shifted its strategic focus decades ago toward investments in the inner suburbs and outer bor- • Planning — Provide real alternatives to the rule of MARX DEAD & oughs, particularly the Brooklyn and Queens waterfronts, the South real estate. New York City has never had a com- Bronx, Central Brooklyn and Northwest Queens, in areas that 40 prehensive plan that charts long-term strategies for ALIVE: Reading October 2020 October years ago were victims of the city’s budget cutting and “planned infrastructure and services. Support real commu- Capital in Precarious Times shrinkage.” nity, citywide and regional planning and put zoning with author Urban real estate still serves as an outlet for excess capital in both in its place. ANDY MERRIFIELD via ZOOM good and bad times (Rockefeller Center was built during the Great To bene t the Merrifield demonstrates how Marx can Depression). Today’s pile of excess capital may shrink a bit but the • Climate Justice — Stop promoting luxury water- family of reveal our individual lives to us within a biggest hit will be felt by labor, pension funds and household sav- front development. Protect frontline communities Ramsey Orta INDYPENDENT THE collective perspective—and within a ings. When capital faces its next great cyclical downturn, the city’s that are vulnerable to fl ooding. Make resiliency historical continuum. Who we are now upscale enclaves will be expanded, while our neighborhoods will planning real and racially just. hinges on who we once were—and who again face austerity. we might become. This, at a time when In the last fi scal crisis, labor and community advocates and vet- • Policing — Follow the calls of the decarceration our value-system is undergoing core erans of the civil rights movement fought back against service cuts. and Black Lives Matter movements to reorganize “post-truth” meltdown. Today we face the impending crises with new and old social move- questions/more info: marxedproject.org ments. Over the last several years community and housing activists Continued on page 14 12ORGANIZING

SWING STATE SOLIDARITY NYC-BASED GROUP AIDS GRASSROOTS ORGS IN FOUR KEY STATES THAT COULD

TIP 2020 ELECTION MARTIN GARY

By Steven Wishnia “We can’t win better conditions without changing who’s says McAdoo, but no one she’s called has ever said anything in power.” about it. f we’re going to make a difference in this election, we The group helped elect a “pretty solid progressive majority” “The issues are the same,” says Bernstein. “ have to get involved in other states,” says Suzanne to the City Council, he adds, but has been frustrated by the Durham for All was a bit wary about working with out-of- Bohnker of Brooklyn. hardline rightwing majority of the state legislature, which has staters at first, says Carpenter, but it takes training really seri- Since early 2019, Bohnker has been volunteering with prevented the city of 280,000 from enacting rent controls or ously, he adds, and issues such as gentrification are common Water for Grassroots (W4G), a group formed in 2017 to setting a minimum wage above $7.25. concerns across lines of race, class, and geography. Durham, connectI activists in New York, where there is little they could The COVID-19 epidemic has drastically changed cam- once a working-class city of tobacco and textile mills with a do to affect the results of a presidential election, with grassroots paigning, says Water for Grassroots volunteer Rory Bernstein substantial Black middle class, is now gentrifying rapidly as organizations in swing states. Its strategy, explains cofounder of Brooklyn, because you can’t go door-to-door, but “every- the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Research Triangle region be- Peter Hogness, is to create a way to help defeat Donald Trump body’s extremely motivated because of the dire situation.” comes a hub for the tech industry. “without giving the Biden campaign a blank check,” and to do Volunteers have also helped with “deep canvassing,” which This involvement in electoral politics represents a signifi- that by collaborating with “people doing long-term issue work is more about talking to people about what issues are impor- cant change for the U.S. left, which for decades before Sen. locally,” in order to avoid the political energy that goes into a tant to them and what might motivate them to vote. “It’s a dif- Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential race largely rejected it in campaign dissipating after the votes are cast. ferent way to reach voters from the traditional ‘Hi, I’m repre- favor of direct action, with the biggest exception Rev. Jesse This year, W4G is supplying volunteers for phone-banking senting Candidate X,’” says Bohnker, who did deep-canvassing Jackson’s campaigns for the Democratic nomination of 1984 and other ways of contacting voters to organizations in four calls to people in North Carolina who didn’t vote in 2016. and 1988. The lesson they are drawing is that while the Civil states: Pennsylvania Stands Up and Make the Road Action “Deep canvassing creates longer, more personal con- Rights Act of 1964 never would have happened without the in Pennsylvania; New Florida Majority; LUCHA in Arizo- versations to really connect with voters, making sure movement’s direct-action protests, it also never would have na; and Durham for All in Durham, N.C. It’s also working to listen as much or more than we talk,” says Hogness. passed without support in Congress and the political skills of with Reclaim Our Vote, a nonpartisan group that is helping “Longer calls, asking about their experiences and sharing President Lyndon Johnson. people ensure they’re registered to vote in “key voter suppres- some of our own, can often have a deeper effect, espe- “I have not in the past been a big elections person, but this sion states” such as Florida, Georgia, seemed like the essential thing to do,” North Carolina and Texas. says McAdoo. She was active in the Hogness expects that the number of BEAT TRUMP WHILE 1960s antiwar movement, but believes people doing “substantial volunteer- her generation failed to produce last- ing” will surpass the 150 the group BUILDING POWER FOR THE ing organizations. had in 2018. The organizations it Jose LaLuz, a longtime labor-union works with generally do a mix of en- activist who was a surrogate for Sand- dorsing progressive candidates and LONG HAUL ers’ presidential campaign earlier this helping people vote. year, argues that the energy of the mas- Pennsylvania Stands Up emerged after Trump’s election in cially in talking with voters who’ve been abandoned by sive and multiracial movement against police violence “has to 2016, when people held emergency town-hall meetings in ev- the political system.” be translated into political engagement.” ery county of the state, says deputy organizing director Julia Maisie McAdoo of Brooklyn, a retired communications Elections are a tactic that can “build power from the ground Berkman-Hill of Lancaster. It now has eight chapters work- specialist for the United Federation of Teachers, is one of 150 up,” he says. It’s not only a matter of electing activists to office, ing in 11 counties, including Philadelphia, the Lehigh Valley, Water for Grassroots volunteers working with Reclaim Our but also “to raise these issues at a time when people’s interest Reading, and Harrisburg as well as Lancaster. This year, its Vote to send postcards to voters asking them if they’re sure is much higher.” Reclaim Philadelphia affiliate backed two democratic social- they’re registered or need help getting absentee ballots or vot- He praises Water for Grassroots for doing an “excellent ists who upset incumbent Democratic state legislators in the ing early. In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp purged more than job” of reaching infrequent voters, often Latino and working June primary: Nikil Saval for the Senate and Rick Krajewski 300,000 voters from the rolls last year. class, that campaigns “have left on the table.” for the House. As the election nears, however, the group will switch to Unlike the Democrats’ centrist wing, which is concentrating “In order to have power, we need to get officials elected; in phone-banking. Rory Bernstein has been calling volunteers to on trying to persuade “swing voters” to choose Joseph Biden order to build our movement, we need to run campaigns,” says get them to sign up for shifts, usually 90 minutes to two hours. over Trump, these groups are focusing more on persuading in- Berkman-Hill. Make the Road Action, the electoral arm of the Brooklyn- frequent voters to choose voting against Trump over staying The more than 30 legislative candidates the group has en- based Make the Road organization, plans to make more than home. Durham for All’s “Swing the State” campaign is making dorsed also includes more centrist Democrats. Flipping the 1.4 million calls to encourage voters, followed by 500,000 calls to 17,000 city residents, mostly poor and Black, who did October 2020 nine House and four Senate seats needed to break the Repub- texts and 500,000 get-out-the-vote calls, says political director not vote in 2016, says Carpenter. licans’ legislative majority, she says, would clear the way to Ivan Garcia. “The only good thing that came out of Trump winning is expand Medicaid, increase housing funding, and raise Pennsyl- “You get a lot of hangups and a lot of screw-yous when you that people are more aware of who they’re voting for,” says vania’s minimum wage from $7.25 an hour, the lowest in the cold-call, but it was surprising how many people want to talk,” Garcia. “If you come out here and put in the work and put out urban Northeast. says McAdoo. She advises showing you’re willing to listen — a message that resonates with people, you’re going to win.” Durham for All, founded in 2016, has a similar outlook. “a little humility helps, and bluster doesn’t.” For more, visit water4grassroots.org. “After years of doing issue-based work, we need a strategy to Calling from out of state doesn’t appear to be a prob-

THE INDYPENDENT get people in power,” says lead organizer Bennett Carpenter. lem. “I had to wrestle a bit with the carpetbagger problem,” 2020 ELECTIONS 13 UNITED lurking threat to social peace that would hurt the functioning of a society based on private commerce. Trump is promoting race war and even running on it. FRONT OR We can almost taste the confusion at the top of the Democratic Party. This is not how the game is played. Elections come from democracy, and if democracy is dismantled, BUST there will be no more parties in the usual sense. Yet if Trump is beaten, the Democrats will still be faced with a situation they aren’t By Ethan Young prepared for. More crises at once than even Franklin D. Roosevelt had to handle. Not a strong incentive to eople lie. People cheat. People steal. Some take over. But them losing would unleash hell. get punished. Some wind up taking the Are we doomed to just stand back and watch this punishment for someone else. That’s the wretched clusterfuck? The alternative to inferno is way of this wicked world. not centrist Democratic confusion and anxiety. It’s the But a wise man once said that the pre- possibility of making the left into an organized na- Pvailing ideology of a society refl ects the ideology of tional opposition with direct ties to millions of people its ruling class. So when the president blatantly lies, after Election Day. This is what we have to aim for, as cheats, steals and twiddles his lips as others suffer, it hard as it is to say with a straight face. We know the follows that people will lose confi dence in truth, hon- centrists are afraid of that happening at least as much esty, property and the rule of law. as they are of four (or more) years of Trump. It’s a bitter lesson, and the capitalist class is only There is only one option for the left before the big starting to get it. We face the distinct possibility of a showdown: Close ranks with the centrists and work presidential election where the popular vote will be ir- harder than them to oust Trump, and hopefully fl ip relevant, as it was in 2016. We can’t even be sure that the Senate. Anything else is praying for rain. This the Electoral College will be relevant, if Trump makes can open the possibility to avert greater disaster and a hash of the voting process and the other powers- change the left from a sideshow to a political force. that-be play possum, as they have on other occasions. The left’s victories in Democratic primaries for Con- This is the agony of the pre-election months of gress and state and local offi ces across the country 2020. The whole world is living through it, because shows this can be done, and electoral work and mass if the Republicans continue to see the pandemic as a protest show how it’s done. If we continue to push the casino chip, the cost in lives worldwide will be incal- Green New Deal and Medicare for All, both will be culable. And yet it looks like they will continue this

EM GAGE way. The Democratic Party is running against the Continued on next page

An online interactive toolkit 2020 October geared toward international solidarity around trade, migration and climate. INDYPENDENT THE

DOWNLOAD A FREE COPY AT TRINATIONALTOOLKIT.COM 14

• Education — End the in- NYC POST-COVID equalities in school spending Continued from page 11 and access.

the approach to public • Community Boards — safety. Members of the city’s 59 community boards are • Housing — Preserve appointed by Borough NYCHA (public housing), Presidents and City Council subsidize permanent housing members. The boards for the unhoused and don’t should be elected, have subsidize “affordable hous- adequate professional staff, ing” that is not affordable to and be empowered to de- most working people. Ex- velop long-range plans. pand the use of community land trusts to preserve public The typical “expert” on government will dis- investments in housing and miss all of this saying it costs too much and public space. we’re facing fi scal austerity. When it comes to transformative changes both large and • Transportation — Drasti- small, however, the key elements are politi- cally restrict circulation by cal leadership, government restructuring and motor vehicles and prioritize reforming agency policies. investments in bus, subway, The other day on my walk in a city park pedestrian and cycling in- I saw the usual overfl owing garbage cans frastructure throughout the guarded by useless cops sitting in their air- city, not just Manhattan. conditioned car busily texting. Imagine if city employees were reorganized as stewards of • Sanitation — Fully imple- the land and public welfare! ment the city’s Zero Waste policies, shifting from collec- Tom Angotti is author of New York For Sale: tion towards waste reduc- Community Planning Confronts Global Real tion and community-based Estate and co-editor of Zoned Out: Race, composting and recycling. Displacement and City Planning in New York City. He is Professor Emeritus of Ur- New From • Public Health — Fully ban Policy & Planning at Hunter College fund the fi ght against the and The Graduate Center, CUNY. International Publishers epidemics of obesity and asthma that disproportion- Five Days, Five Nights ately affect communities of color. Print books available now, soon in an eBook version

An brief account of a clandestine journey from Portugal to Spain written by Alvaro Cunal, long time leader of the Communist party of Portugal. This novella is one of several fictional works that Cunhal wrote under the pen name Manuel Tiago. in a movement as fragmented and politically UNITED FRONT incoherent as the U.S. left. There are simplis- This English translation is intended to be the first Continued from previous page tic alternatives: Any two people can form a in a series of Cunhal’s offerings. “vanguard party,” and any smashed soul can achievable despite the threat of fascism — retreat from the struggle and light a match, but only if the GOP is defeated. wave a gun, or punch a cop. But unity is im- We have the capacity to make the move. perative, whether people want to push a pro- Remote phone-banking means that wherever gressive alternative or see that the threat to we are, we can work for any campaign in democracy requires a unifi ed defense. the U.S. We should piggyback outreach for United fronts were what laid the basis anti-Trump votes with the campaigns of left for the defeat of fascism in World War II, Congressional candidates like the Squad (all a number of successful revolutions after the up for re-election), Cori Bush in Missouri, war, and the rise of industrial unionism here Jamaal Bowman in New York, and Marie in the U.S. The unity in action of progressive Newman in Illinois. Working through in- forces is what makes the possibility of so- dividual campaigns’ phone banking e‰ orts, cial transformation realistic for the burned- they get voter information directly, indepen- out and the damned. We should keep this dent of the party leaders. in mind, even when forced to retreat, even Hopefully, protest will not be driven o‰ when factional fi ghts leave us raw, or we the streets by the already proven threat of forget where we are and where we can be in violence. There is so much to scream about, the din of collapse. and so many ears to reach. The whole left We can make laws and elections work can agree on that old Wobbly slogan, “Agi- for us, sometimes. We can get the upper October 2020 tate, Educate, Organize!” Better we should hand in street confrontations, sometimes. have the way free to do it in public. But we But in every case it depends on numbers can’t count on that if the Republicans win, and unity, not money or arms. That needs so it’s time to start thinking of ways to do to be the focus of our strategy, short-term it when protest is prevented by law or by and long-term. social repression. -- Another old left idea is the united front.

THE INDYPENDENT The concept is easier to grasp than to realize 15

tax dollars support Do your child abuse and land theft?

Israeli forces detain Palestinian Fevzi El-Junidi, 14, following clashes in the West Bank city of Hebron, December 2017 Credit: Wisam Hashlamoun / Anadolu Agen

The U.S. gives Israel more than $3.8 billion in military aid every year; some of it goes to imprisoning children.

“They’re seized in the dead of night, blindfolded and cuffed, abused and manipulated to confess to crimes they didn't commit. Every year Israel arrests almost 1,000 Palestinian youngsters, some of them not yet 13.” —Netta Ahituv, in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz 3/16/19

The U.S. also supports annexation and the continuous demolition and confiscation of Palestinian property, as well as the restricting of Palestinian movement. Members of Congress are beginning to push back. Twenty-six House members have co-sponsored the No Way to Treat a Child Act (HR 2407), which would withhold U.S. military aid used to violate the rights of children (under the age of 18 as defined by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child). A joint House and Senate letter puts the spotlight on Israel’s pending annexation of Palestinian lands, in violation of international law. Twelve representatives have signed a letter stating, “We will work to ensure non-recognition of annexed territories as well as pursue legislation that conditions the $3.8 billion in U.S. military funding to Israel to ensure that U.S. taxpayers are not supporting annexation in

any way,” 2020 October Where do your representatives stand on U.S. tax dollars being used to abuse Palestinian children and annex Palestinian land? Ask them. THE INDYPENDENT THE

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Sen. Chuck Schumer To contact your rep: (518) 431-0120 (518) 431-4070 (202) 224-3121 16INDEPENDENT MEDIA

paper. Nogueira’s faculty advisor The Indypendent was a product of the movement mo- had promised to put her protégé on ment we emerged from, and most of us believed fervently in the fast track to a scholarship at the making decisions by consensus. Passionate debates ensued. UNLIKELY Columbia School of Journalism and Was it more authentic to keep a writer’s misspelled words a Wall Street Journal internship. and errant commas on the page? Could we have an edito- But when Nogueira tried to publish rial hierarchy of any kind and still be true to our egalitarian hard-hitting articles on police brutal- politics? Were there any circumstances in which advertising JOURNEY ity, the minimizing of the number of could be a legitimate source of funds? One thing we were all sexual assault cases on campus and convinced of was the futility of electoral politics, especially THE INDY HAS SURVIVED AND THRIVED other abuses of power, her mentor involvement with the Democratic Party. overruled her. A fan of Indymedia donated a 2,500-square-foot loft OVER TWO TUMULTUOUS DECADES. NOW IT “She told me I was through, be- space in midtown Manhattan with a high-speed Internet cause ‘that’s not how the real world connection for us to work out of. The Indymedia offi ce be- FACES ITS GREATEST CHALLENGE. works,’” said Nogueira, who never came a community hub that saw frequent visitors. It also looked back. became a squat, thanks to the kitchen and shower on site. A couple of years later, the placid As many as seven of us at a time lived there, throwing down By John Tarleton 1990s ended with a bang when tens of thousands of pro- mattresses in the nooks and crannies of the space, going out testers, including this writer, swarmed downtown Seattle late at night to forage from bountiful local dumpsters. When s Priscilla Felia was driving through the deso- and shut down a summit meeting of the World Trade Or- I would wake up on cold winter mornings in my makeshift late, boarded-up streets of Lower Manhattan ganization. Diplomats had gathered from 136 countries to home in a 3-foot by 8-foot storage closet in the back of the one night a couple of weeks after the George hammer out a series of global free trade pacts that would offi ce, I could see my breath. At least the commute to work Floyd uprising swept across New York City, have expanded corporate power while undermining labor, was short. she saw something that made her pull over. consumer, human and environmental rights. Instead, those AOne of The Indypendent’s bright red-and-white news talks collapsed amid the tumult. After decades of retreat boxes was standing alone on a street corner just south of and defeat, it was a rare and stunning victory for the left • • • Houston Street. Felia didn’t expect to fi nd anything. We had that gave a jolt of energy to many radical movements in this switched to publishing exclusively online at the height of country and beyond. the pandemic with daily reports on nearly every facet of a “The Battle of Seattle” also gave birth to Indymedia, a When you are living in a countercultural space like the sprawling, fast-moving story. Nonetheless, Felia later wrote decentralized global network of left-wing media collectives one we created, it’s tempting to want to withdraw into an us, “I just had to stop and pay homage by touching the box (and the source of the “y” in our name) that spread to more activist bubble, ignore the larger world and all its ugly, and opening the little door.” than 200 cities around the world and pioneered the use of messy contradictions and create your own private club- Then she got a jolt: A stack of brand-new Indys featuring online crowd-sourced reporting a decade before the rise of house. However, events outside our control forced us to an- Black Lives Matter coverage swer the existential questions fi lled the box. we had been debating. When “I nearly jumped out of a pair of jet planes full of pas- my sandals,” she added in her sengers crashed into the World neat, handwritten script. “I Trade Center on 9/11, every pa- was so happy and excited. I per in the city howled for war, had to take extras for friends, including The Village Voice. two of which will be mailed to Our page one headline read friends in North Carolina.” “How Should We Respond?” The Indypendent was The article by Mike Burke launched 20 years ago this fall. quoted peace activists instead It was a conspiracy of hope. of retired generals working for Our goal was to reach tens of military contractors and asked thousands of everyday New “Wouldn’t fi ghting terror with Yorkers like Priscilla Felia, terror propel the nation, and who hungered for an alterna- indeed the world into a war tive source of news and analy- where there may be no win- sis that challenged the conventional wisdom of a corporate- social media. Within months, Nogueira and others began ners?” dominated society and brought back stories of resistance organizing a New York City chapter of Indymedia. She also In such a fraught environment we had to use every word from the streets of New York City and the far corners of rustled up a $500 grant from the Puffi n Foundation to print well to connect with skeptical readers instead of repelling the world. the fi rst four-page, black-and-white edition of this paper them. Our circulation doubled from 5,000 to 10,000. The Twenty years is both a long time and the blink of an eye. that would speak to New Yorkers who might never fi nd the turnout for our weekly meetings quickly tripled. We be- Each issue we have published has been a small miracle. To NYC Indymedia website. gan to hold monthly reporting workshops to even out the be still standing is a bigger miracle. That we’re making read- Our young paper threw open its doors and drew activists skills imbalance within our group and to get more aspir- ers like Priscilla jump out of their shoes two decades later at and artists, crackpots and visionaries, novice reporters and ing people’s journalists into the streets. We also added a the sight of a new issue is the best news of all. veterans of the alternative press. culture section, which offered another way to talk about October 2020 “I’ve been in love with print ever since the 1980s, when what mattered to us without being tethered to the ebb and I worked at the [New York] Guardian independent radical fl ow of events. • • • newsweekly,” says Ellen Davidson, who joined the project “The Indy reminds us we exist,” Naomi Klein once said in 2001 and is active to this day. “When you’re out on the of the paper, meaning that the wide-ranging grassroots cov- streets organizing, there is nothing like handing someone a erage in its pages each month gave concrete form to the Every institution has an origin story. Ours is a good newspaper to get your message out. They’ll take it home and much-touted “movement of movements” that can seem one. It begins in the late 1990s at SUNY Purchase, where read it later. And people absorb information differently when more like activist hype than reality.

THE INDYPENDENT Ana Nogueira was the editor-in-chief of her college news- it’s on a printed page than when it comes through a screen.” Unfortunately, you can’t fi nd what it takes to print a 17 ELIA GRAN ELIA

newspaper at the bot- tom of a dumpster. So we EDITORIAL MEETING: The Indypendent’s editors and had to learn how to raise writers gather at the paper’s Downtown Brooklyn offi ce circa 2018. money. There were un- derground dance parties and a four-color 36-inch by 24-inch poster within a couple of years here in the United that depicted where the weapons of mass States. The Indymedia network was mostly destruction were made and stored in the defunct by the end of the 2000s, technolog- United States. It sold briskly at anti-war ically superseded fi rst by blogs and then so- rallies and was snapped up by lefty com- cial media and fi nally eviscerated by inter- munity radio stations around the country nal strife. Still we powered ahead, covering that used it as a fund drive premium. Even- powerful new movements we could have tually we lost our virginity, selling our fi rst scarcely imagined when we began: Occupy ads to a radical bookstore and a feminist Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, Me Too, sex toy shop. And to be honest, it felt pret- climate justice and the revival of socialism ty damn good. We were helping ourselves as a serious political current in this country and community-based organizations and for the fi rst time in decades. businesses we wanted to fl ourish. “We had a self-described socialist In 2004, American Apparel threw a pile within spitting distance of the American of dough at us to hawk their undergar- presidency,” Nicholas Powers wrote in ments on our back page in the run-up to his post-mortem of Bernie Sanders’ 2016 massive protests at that year’s Republican presidential run. “The world was watch- National Convention in New York. It was ing, because when you peeled off the ideol- the fi rst and only large corporate account ogy, what was left was a simple thing. We

we’ve ever landed. Before we took it, we wanted to love our neighbors. We wanted checked with the union that was trying to everyone to have enough because we’re organize the American Apparel’s workers tired of hurting each other to get it.” and it assured us there was no boycott We also became more sophisticated in being called for against the company. We our understanding of local politics. This used the extra revenues to switch to full- allowed us to help our readership map The Vito Marcantonio Forum color covers that increased our visibility power in this city and how to confront it. and attracted more talented illustrators. When the Sanders campaign inspired local Wishes The Indy a Happy 20th. We had two modestly paid staff positions versions of his challenge to the Democratic for the fi rst time, which allowed me to Party machine, we jumped into covering move out of the storage closet and into them with gusto. The fi rst socialists to run The Indypendent is an invaluable resource that the rent-controlled apartment of a friend in local races lost but, we noted, ran stron- strengthens our movement by bringing together October 2020 October of the paper. We also used some of that ger than expected with hundreds of volun- progressives of all ages and outlooks undergarment money to spin off a month- teers hitting the doors on their behalf. Elec- ly Spanish language edition, El Independi- toral politics no longer seemed hopeless. In ente. In that same era, we helped launch 2018, we became the very fi rst print publi- We extend our support and encouragement to Indykids, “a free paper for free kids” ages cation to put then congressional candidate

8-12 that still publishes. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on their cover. those who make it possible. INDYPENDENT THE “HOLY SMOKES!” She tweeted. “Our campaign is the FRONT PAGE • • • STORY of NYC’s classic monthly, @ vitomarcantonioforum.com TheIndypendent!”

The alter-globalization movement that The Indy sprang from petered out Continued on page 21 18 19

INDEPENDENT MEDIA

on standardized testing, the importance of teachers unions and the mis- JUNE use of “gifted and talented” programs to maintain a system of de facto ISSUE 236 2005 segregation in New York City’s public schools. 2018“Holy SMOKES!” Alexandria Ocasio-Cor- SEPTEMBER tez tweets on June 2, 2018. “Our campaign is the FRONT PAGE STORY ISSUE 76 of NYC’s classic monthly.” ANOTHER The Indy publishes a post-Katrina special FALL The Indy’s profi le of AOC’s under-the-media radar run for Congress issue that looks at the blatant disregard for ISSUES 170–172 marks her fi rst appearance on a newspaper or magazine cover. But it Black lives in the response of the government 2011The Indy publishes three special issues during won’t be the last after the 28-year-old democratic socialist goes on to and the corporate media as well as the hidden Occupy Wall Street and its immediate aftermath. Coverage ranges from win a historic primary victory over Queens Democratic Party boss Joe heroics of people coming to each other’s aid. photo essays and fi rst-person pieces to analysis of the relationship be- Crowley. “I’m in the Algiers neighborhood of New Or- tween Occupy and labor unions, the police and the 99% and why taking leans, the only part that isn’t fl ooded,” writes over public squares in major global cities is such a powerful tactic. JOURNALISM former New Orleans Black Panther and com- MAY munity organizer Malik Rahim. “The water ISSUE 246 is good. Our parks and schools could easily NOVEMBER 2019“Take Down The Landlords” screams the hold 40,000 people and they’re not using any ISSUE 181 headline of the May 2019 Indy, a 24-page affordable housing special of it. This is criminal. People are dying for no 2012We publish a 20-page, post-Sandy special edition. A month later, tenants rights advocates did just that, winning other reason than the lack of organization.” edition that includes the latest news on relief efforts and how to get sweeping rent law reforms in the NY state legislature that stunned the involved, a look at the real estate industry’s drive to build on the water- real estate industry. IS POSSIBLE front and a deep-dive (so to speak) piece on the impact of rising ocean For 20 years THE INDYPENDENT has been a bold, progressive levels over the coming centuries. AUGUST newspaper and website that provides a unique voice in the NYC NOVEMBER2007 JANUARY ISSUE 257 ISSUE 112 ISSUE 183 2020When COVID-19 hits New York media landscape. Here are some of the highlights of our journey When the House of Representatives approves 2013As Barack Obama begins his second term as full force in March, The Indy responds by publishing more than 80 the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown president, The Indy appoints a Shadow Cabinet of visionary thinkers original articles on indypendent.org during the fi rst three months of the Terrorism Act by a vote of 400–6, it seems and doers. Each Shadow Cabinet member writes a short essay about pandemic. Coverage includes fi rst-person pieces from frontline nurses so far. a sure bet that the measure will sail through what they would do upon taking offi ce. Shadow Cabinet appointees in- facing PPE shortages, reports from inside Rikers Island, profi les of a the Senate and be signed by President George clude Secretary of State Laura Flanders, Attorney General Michael Rat- sprawling network of mutual aid groups, a look at the growing Cancel W. Bush. However, when Jessica Lee’s report- ner and Secretary of Energy Bill McKibben, who titles his article “One Rent movement and reviews of the best anti-capitalist movies to watch ing reveals how the legislation could be used Thing Before I’m Fired.” while secluded at home. Our August cover story gives voice to the By Indypendent Staff SUMMER by the government to target people engaged in First Amendment-pro- growing opposition of parents, teachers and support staff to a poorly ISSUE 52 tected activity and traditional forms of nonviolent civil disobedience, a conceived plan to reopen New York City’s public schools. FALL 2004 While corporate media push unsubstanti- fi restorm of criticism ensues from activists and civil libertarians across DECEMBER ISSUE 2 ated scare stories about protesters and terrorists besieging New York dur- the political spectrum. The legislation subsequently dies in the Senate. ISSUE 202 2000Inspired by the Nov. 1999 Battle of Se- ing the upcoming Republican National Convention, The Indy trumpets the Lee would later win a Project Censored award for writing one of the 10 2014After protests erupt across the nation in attle and a subsequent wave of anti-corporate protests that rippled around rights of dissenters and reports on the myriad reasons they are taking to most important under-reported domestic news stories of that year. response to the non-indictments of police offi cers who killed Michael the world, The Indypendent launches as a four-page, black-and-white the streets. Two August issues have print runs of 100,000 and 150,000, the Brown and Eric Garner, Nicholas Powers writes in The Indy, “We show newspaper dedicated to covering radical social movements in NYC and largest circulation in decades for a radical, grassroots newspaper. our hands because we’re scared of being killed by offi cers who have been beyond. It is a part of Indymedia, a global network of grassroots media APRIL given license to kill Black people and go unpunished. I’m asking you to projects that fl ourished in the early 2000s, hence the “y” in our name. ISSUE 119 take this weight from us. I’m asking you to hold your hands up too.” DECEMBER 2008Using the story of a dementia-affl icted, ISSUE 62 86-year-old homeowner in Crown Heights as a starting point, Joseph SEPTEMBER 2004John Tarleton profi les Harold Noel, a Huff-Hannon does a deep dive into the predatory practices of sub-prime OCTOBER ISSUE 11 Brooklyn-born Iraq War vet who fi nds himself fi ghting mental illness and mortgage lenders in neighborhoods like Crown Heights and Bed-Stuy. ISSUE 209 2001The Indy publishes a four-page special is- sleeping outside at the onset of winter while his family falls apart. Noel’s “If the housing market falls precipitously here as it has across much of 2015Soon after Donald Trump jumps to the front sue within 48 hours of the 9/11 attacks and another 12-page special issue story is subsequently picked up by a number of national outlets. Noel the nation,” Huff-Hannon warns, “a cascade of foreclosures is likely to of the Republican primary fi eld, The Indy runs a cover story on Trump’s a week later. As the Bush administration rushes to exploit public rage tells The Indy, “I walk around crying every day. I feel lost in my own follow. An alarming number of those losing their homes will likely be career as a crony capitalist. While many pundits at the time assume and fear following 9/11, The Indy becomes a magnet for New Yorkers land; the land I fought for. … Sometimes I just feel like picking up a gun black seniors.” Trump’s buffoonish campaign will soon fl ame out, the piece’s author Peter who are alarmed by where the country is headed. and calling it quits. … But, something’s got to get better. I didn’t just risk Rugh warns that the former reality TV star can very well win the White my life for nothing. There’s a God out there — somewhere.” A month House and if he does, “President Trump” will morph into King Donald I. later, an anonymous donor puts up $18,500 to cover a year’s rent for a MARCH 2020 October NOVEMBER three-bedroom apartment in the Bronx for Noel, his wife and three kids. ISSUE 133 ISSUE 22 2009Sarah Secunda captures the zeitgeist of JANUARY 2002A who’s who of leading Democrats, the Great Recession in her coverage of striking immigrant workers at the ISSUE 221 including Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, can’t fi gure it out. But four FEBRUARY Stella D’oro bakery in the Bronx who fi nd themselves locked in a bitter Millions of people in hundreds of cities take to October 2020 2017 INDYPENDENT THE months before the United States invades Iraq, The Indy publishes a spe- ISSUE 65 labor battle against a private equity company demanding deep cuts in the streets in women-led marches on the day after Trump’s inauguration. In cial issue titled “Why War? Why Now?” The issue debunks offi cial ratio- 2005With the Republicans entrenched in the pay and benefi ts. conjunction with the marches, we publish a 20-page Women’s March spe- nales for war, offers a fi rst-hand glimpse into the lives of ordinary Iraqis White House for another four long years, The Indy declares it’s “Mov- cial edition that amplifi ed the voices and concerns of the most progressive and covers the growing antiwar movement. A two-page center spread ing Beyond Bush and Dick” in its fi rst annual sex issue. Featured articles SEPTEMBER wing of the movement. 2O highlights dozens of sites in the United States where weapons of mass include a look at the working life of a dominatrix, boot fetishes, BDSM ISSUE 155 destruction are developed and produced. and the use of safewords, a how-to guide for making dildos and a fi rst- 2010In a special back-to-school issue of The person piece on fi ghting back against the police harassment of queers Indy, we hear from activist parents, teachers, students and radical edu- THE INDYPENDENT cruising in Central Park’s Ramble area. cation scholars on the pitfalls of corporate school reform, overreliance INDY 20

TESTIMONIALS WHAT THE INDY

to share my ideas about how we create a world with- MEANS TO ME out police and prisons. Alex S. Vitale is professor of sociology and coordina- SOME OF OUR FAVORITE tor of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brook- READERS SOUND OFF lyn College and author of The End of Policing. ERIK RIST ERIK NANCY ROMER By Indypendent Staff Since its launch two decades ago, The Indypendent has been a crucial voice for the New York City left. It gives us news, opinions and connections to each other that we would have great diffi culty SEN. JULIA SALAZAR establishing without it. For the climate justice movement that has The Indypendent is an extraordinary publication because it ac- meant that The Indy, in its print and online versions, consistently tively engages readers and contributors. The Indy doesn’t stop covers the actions and concerns of the movement. It covers the at reporting, but motivates us to become actively involved in the small, local actions that are never covered by other citywide me- greater movement for social justice. When I was a freelance writer, dia; it covers the big demonstrations and actions that are barely The Indy empowered me to collaborate with other writers and covered and often dismissed or misinterpreted by the corporate editors to pursue our common political project. The Indy’s work media. has a lasting and meaningful impact because it’s a publication that The Indy has “followed the story” of the climate movement as inspires readers to take action. The Indy has shaped my politi- it has ebbed and fl owed over the years. The Indy knows that the cal development as a community organizer by demonstrating the thick thread that connects one environmental effort to the next importance of amplifying the stories of those who are directly is essential for the movement to understand itself more fully and impacted by inequality and oppression. In New York’s political for the broader public that may not be directly engaged in climate

DAVE SANDERS DAVE climate, power is too often consolidated in the hands of the very work to be better informed. It knows that the depth of the move- wealthy, and that power is used to dominate the public narrative. ment is measured by its importance to people of color and work- For 20 years, The Indy has played an indispensable role in coun- ing people. tering that narrative by speaking truth to power, serving as a plat- Because The Indy is a movement journal, it helps us to see the form for the struggles of everyday New Yorkers. From reporting movements we are most invested in in the broader context of pro- on the statewide movement for housing justice to investigating the gressive organizing. We read about our own work and about the mechanics of the Queens political machine, The Indy has been a work of the other progressive movements too. That helps to give leader in the popular education of the public. The Indy is a model us good ideas for future organizing, to make contact and con- for what it means for a news publication to provide a crucial pub- nections with groups we didn’t know existed and to broaden our lic service and to operate with integrity. understanding of how the left is progressing in general. I believe the left is on the verge of becoming more powerful and In 2018 State Senator Julia Salazar (D-North Brooklyn) became effective than it has been in decades, and I know that The Indy will the fi rst socialist elected to the New York state legislature in nearly help advance that power through its insightful and accurate cover- a century and the youngest woman to ever serve in the legislature. age. Because its writers and editors know the power of the broad movement, not just its smaller parts, The Indy will help us move forward together. Happy 20th anniversary, Indypendent! ALEX VITALE

ERIK MCGREGOR ERIK The United States is experiencing a national crisis in policing. But Nancy Romer is a co-founder of the NYC People’s Climate Move- the fi ght to end abusive policing is primarily a local struggle tar- ment geting local political actors. Unfortunately, across the country, lo- cal reporting has either gone out of style, or is under the control of a shrinking number of news conglomerates with little interest ASTRA TAYLOR in directly challenging the “thin blue line” politics that stands in The Indypendent is more necessary today than it was two decades the way of the changes we need to implement to create safer com- ago when it was founded. With local journalism collapsing and munities without aggressive and invasive policing. That’s why it’s national outlets prioritizing spin and profi tability over real report- imperative that we have a source of independent local news like age, The Indypendent is a reminder of what is possible — princi- The Indypendent. And part of what makes The Indy so power- pled, radical journalism that goes beyond the hype. I’m heartened ful is that it doesn’t just report on events that are relevant to our every time I see a copy of The Indypendent on the street or an movements, it directly works to help build those movements. It article shared online. Here’s to another 20 years. October 2020 does that by including the voices of people doing the organizing for an audience of politically engaged readers. It’s a sounding Astra Taylor is a writer, organizer and documentarian. Her books board for ideas and analysis that is essential to any real move- include The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in ment. And, because our movements are becoming more powerful, the Digital Age and Democracy May Not Exist, But We’ll Miss It a growing group of mainstream journalists and political insiders When It’s Gone.

DEBORAH DEGRAFFENREID are watching what’s happening in The Indy. It’s that diverse audi- ence of movement activists, journalists, political insiders and, yes,

THE INDYPENDENT the general public, that makes The Indy an appealing place for me 21

From the vantage point of 20 years, what’s striking to not infrequently winning against ICE, NYPD, Amazon, the UNLIKELY JOURNEY me is how consistently outstanding our volunteers and landlord lobby, the bail bond industry, the police unions, Continued from page 17 staff have been: talented, passionate, hard-working, po- Gov. 1% and our bumbling mayor for starters. litically aware, eager to give voice to the issues they care We want to continue to do great work in 2021 and be- about. The chance to be a part of a vibrant, supportive yond, but the coronavirus calamity that has laid waste to • • • community counts for something too in our alienated, at- our society has not left us unscathed. Some of our major omized society and often inspires people to give more of donors have had to pull back. Most of our events-base ad- themselves to the project. vertising may not return any time soon either. And while The past dozen years have seen the collapse of the me- “I got involved in January and haven’t looked back,” we’ve had an unprecedented explosion of ads in this 20th dia industry. Hundreds of thousands of journalists have says Amba Guerguerian, The Indy’s administrative man- anniversary issue, that is not going to be enough over the lost their jobs. Newspapers in particular have been gutted ager. “I’m grateful to be a part of something that is so long haul. To ensure The Indy survives these perilous times, — by the 2008 financial crash, by the Google/Facebook people centered.” please visit page 22 and see how you can do your part. duopoly making a mockery of antitrust laws to hoover up online ad dollars and most recently by the pandemic and John Tarleton joined the Indypendent collective in fall the economic crisis. Throughout, we’ve been able to sur- • • • 2000. He is the paper’s executive editor. His favorite vive and even thrive. dumpster score back in the day was a nice unblemished This isn’t easy to do because there is a constant churn pineapple and cinnamon raisin bagels to nibble on while among our volunteers. Like the waves of the sea, they roll in In 2016, a chance encounter we had with a new reader while working late at night. one after another and make their mark, then recede and are handing out papers at a subway station led to us receiving replaced by others. While there are a some long-timers who the financial support we needed to dust off long-shelved have stuck with it for a decade or more, most Indy partici- plans to place news boxes on street corners across the city pants are active for several months, a year or two or three and more than double our print circulation to 45,000 copies and then move on with new skills, new confidence, valuable a month. clips, a keener sense of what they want to do in life, a deeper Was that luck or perseverance? knowledge of the city and its social justice movements, long- Either way it has made it possible for us to introduce term friendships that will endure beyond the paper. Some, many tens of thousands of progressive New Yorkers to like Ana Nogueira, move on to full-time media jobs. She down-ballot leftists such as AOC, Tiffany Cabán, Julia Sala- became a producer at Democracy Now! as did Mike Burke, zar and Jabari Brisport among others. We’re also amplifying another Indy co-founder. the voices of New York City social movements fighting and

THE INDYPENDENT 20TH ANNIVERSARY October 2020 October

A loo k bac k at 20 yea r s of Ind y p e n d e n t his to r y thr o u g h

the eyes of Indy readers, writers, and collaborators. INDYPENDENT THE

indypendent.org/20thVideos 22

IT’SWE THAT NEEDSIMPLE. YOU. The outpouring of ads celebrating our 20TH ANNIVERSARY issue is inspiring. Still, we have only one viable path for the long run: for more readers who value the paper to become Indy Members, for as little as $50 per year.

This fall we need to raise $80,000, or we will have to scale back what we do in 2021 — fewer issues, fewer pages, fewer stories told about the movements “ ght- ing to shape the future of post-pandemic New York City.

THE DOTS ON THE OTHER PAGE represent $80,000 in increments of $50. The more you give, the more quickly we can “ ll the remaining circles. For example, when you give $100, you “ ll two circles, $200 four circles, $1,000 twenty circles.

The good news is we’re off to a fast start. We’ve raised $19,600 so far in donations and pledges, almost one-fourth of our goal, or 392 circles “ lled.

PLEASE HELP US FILL MORE OF THOSE CIRCLES TODAY. WITH YOUR ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP, YOU WILL RECEIVE: • An Indypendent tote bag. • Free access to all of our weekly e-newsletters. • Access to monthly Zoom events in which we talk to authors and activists about the important issues of the day. • The chance to participate in our annual spring vision meeting. If you give $100 or more, we will include a free one-year print subscription, in addition to everything else you will receive.

You can give online at indypendent.org/donate or send a check to The Indypendent / 388 Atlantic Ave, 2nd Fl / Brooklyn, NY 11217

Thank you for your support. It means more now than ever. THE STAFF & VOLUNTEERS OF THE INDYPENDENT

NAME

October 2020 ADDRESS STATE/CITY/ZIP EMAIL IF YOU WISH TO DONATE VIA CREDIT CARD AND NEED ASSISTANCE, CALL US AT

THE INDYPENDENT 212-904-1282 AND WE WILL GET BACK TO YOU PROMPTLY. 23 WE NEED YOU. October 2020 October THE INDYPENDENT THE 24 and Law Disorder radio Listen to the show each week and download podcasts at Lawanddisorder.org Airing on over 125 stations around the nation

“Our basic constitutional rights are in jeopardy. "Law and Disorder” is an excellent magazine format radio show, hosted by progressive lawyers who analyze the state of civil rights in this post-9/11 period. FromFr attacks on Muslims at home to torture abroad, "Law and Disorder” puts these constitutional attacks into perspective” - AMY GOODMAN HOST, DEMOCRACY NOW! SURVEYING THE WRACK AND THE ROT OF THE NYC-AREA ANALOG RADIOSCAPE Co-founded by: Michael Ratner (1943-2016) President, Center for Constitutional Rights; and hosted by movement lawyers: Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, A. Muste Memorial Institute; and Michael Steven Smith, New York City attorney and author. NOW ON FACEBOOK.COM FREQ-AMP.COM

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE INDYPENDENT ON 20 YEARS OF SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER.

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BEFROM ITS INCEPTION,THE THE INDYPENDENT MEDIA! HAS BEEN AN EXPERIMENT IN PARTICIPATORY MEDIA. HERE ARE SOME OF THE MANY HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE WHO HAVE WRITTEN, EDITED, PHOTOGRAPHED, DRAWN, DESIGNED, MADE VIDEOS AND DISTRIBUTED THIS PAPER.

Kat Aaron • Aya Abdelaziz • Eman Abdelhadi • Rae Abileah • Jack Adam • Arun Aguiar • Moumita Ahmed • Najla al-Nashi • Yasir al-Rawi Sam Alcoff • Linda Martín Alcoff • Kazim Ali • Aimee Alison • Nicholas Allanach • Jackson Allers • Charlyne Alexis • R. Alvarez Borko Amulic • Erik Anders-Nilssen • Chris Anderson • Lucy Anderson • Tom Angotti • Onto Aporia • Silvia Arana • Kassia Arbabi Claire Arkin • Stanley Aronowitz • Steven Arnerich • Ana Ashby • Jaclynn Ashly • Ben Ashwell • Fred Askew • Eulan Atkinson • Essam Attia Elijah Barrett Aviles • Eleanor Bader • Leila Badu • Camille Baker • Kazembe Balagun • Ross Barkan • Charlie Bass • Bennett Baumer Gino Barzizza • Nirit Ben-Ari • Caitlin Benedetto • Alan Benjamin • Farah Belaggoune • Jonathan Bennett • Jessie Bhangoo • Michael Bielawski Devika Bilimoria • Leila Binder • Jenny Blair • Angela Bocage • Halley Bondy • Ariel Boone • Yousef Oussama Bounab • Stephen Boykewich Jed Brandt • Joshua Breitbart • Eric Brelsford • Kristin Bricker • Sue Brisk • Chris Brown • Pam Brown • Cole Boyd • Ojette Brundage Bonnie Brunet • Kenny Bruno • Duane Bruton • Harry Bubbins • Jeffrey Buchanan • Mike Burke • Kiera Butler • John David Bwakali • Catherine Byun • Rafa Calleja • Aaron Miguel Cantú • Laura Carlsen • José Carmona • Matthew Capri • Jessica Carpenter • Shawn Carrié • Chris Cascarano Antrim Caskey • Evan Casper-Futterman • Matthew Cassel • Julie Cavanagh • Janaki Chadha • Rahul Chadha • John Chan • Susan Chenelle Sina Choi • Pooja Chopra • Fitzroy Christian • Hye Jin Chung • Maya Chung • Valerio Ciriaci • MaryNancy Clary • Rico Cleffi • Orly Clerge Linnea Covington • Jay Chuber • Steve Connors • Brendan Coyne • Kenneth Crab • Kate Crane • Seamus Creighton • Hazen Cuyler • James Daria Ellen Davidson • Christopher Day • Freddy Deknatel • Aries De La Cruz • Lourdes Delgado • Anne Derenne • Maggie Dickinson • Pete Dolack Hank Dombrowski • Leia Doran • Allison Dorian • Robert Dreyfuzz • Ryan Dunsmuir • Andrew Dworkin • Bilal El-Amine • Alexandra Early Kevin Egan • Alex Ellefson • Gregory Elich • Annette Elizabeth • Dave Enders • Jonah Engle • Joseph Epstein • Kristin Ess • Rona Even Merrill Kenyon Farrow • Ed Fanning • Jennifer Fermino • Ersellia Ferron • Tahira Faune Alford • Reneé Feltz • Mike Ferner • David Ferris • Simon Finger Daniel Fishel • Seth Fisher • Richard Fitzer • Jordan Flaherty • Chris Fleischer • Margaret Flowers • Danielle Follett • Sophie Forbes Bianca Fortis • Lynne Foster • Michael Fox • Kim Fraczek • Joshua Frank • Sierra Freeman • Lew Friedman • Emily Frost • Karen Fu Emma Gaffney • Emily Gage • Clementine Gallot • Chaim Garcia • Leo Garcia • Joe Gardner Wesseley • Alfredo Garzon • Chris Geovanis Jon Gerberg • Mindy Gershon • Jack Gerson • Neela Ghoshal • Lauren Giambrone • John Gibler • Michelle Gilkes • Aman Gill • Kyle Giller Rebecca Giordano • David Gochfeld • Antonio Golan • Gan Golan • Anna Gold • Tami Gold • Harmony Goldberg • Daniel Goldstein Robert Gonyo • Samantha Gorelick • Neela Goshal • Laura Gottesdiener • David Graeber • Sarah Graff-Palermo • Elia Gran • Allan Greenberg Mick Greenberg • Diane Greene Lent • Liana Grey • Stephen Grey • Priscilla Grim • Amba Guerguerian • Esteban Guerra • Elizabeth Guidi Isaak Liptzin • 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SPONSORED BY FRIENDS & ALUMNI OF THE INDYPENDENT 26MIDDLE EAST BEIRUT COMES TO ITS OWN RESCUE FROM MEGA-EXPLOSION TO MUTUAL AID

By Shawn Carrié

he picture on the TV screen fi zzles out with the last gasp of electricity, as you hear it cut on the entire street. A welcome quiet, albeit an imposed one — an- other minute and you probably would’ve thrown some- thing at the TV. You opt for a walk through the city, Tpast the eternal construction sites, the empty vegetable stands and the crackling glass shards of a bank’s broken windows. The last round of protests achieved little, and the armed guards still stand outside the capitol building, staring vacantly at the senile politi- cians stepping out of limousines into another session of closed- door crisis planning. Then, past the detritus of late capitalism’s wasteland, you see the rows of tents. The hands of a caring busybody packing used cardboard boxes with food and bandages. The open-air meetings crowded around tables in front of laptops and maps, while volun- teers are greeted and assigned tasks, joining a well-organized and collectively run machine. This is Beirut — where just over a month ago a hangar containing fi reworks and more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in a fi reball, taking more than 200 lives and shattering everything within a two-mile radius. The shock wave ripped through windows and tore down walls with a violent crash and total disregard, from the working-class factory workers’ district of Qarantina to the up- scale hipster neighborhood of Mar Mikhael. No one was surprised at the revelation that it was the blithe in- eptitude of the system that had allowed a literal powder keg to lie for years in a limbo. No one was surprised when poor refugee work- ers at the Port of Beirut were blamed for starting the fi re, haphazard- ly sparked by a metal welder sent to do a job without the slightest regard for workplace safety. What did surprise many, however, was how people came together to respond in the absence of any kind of offi cial response. A day after the explosion, residents streamed in from all across Beirut — those who weren’t injured brought what they could to those who needed it. They set up a triage center, with tarps for shade, tables to start organizing the supplies that needed to go out and the growing pile of canvassing forms to track where they needed to go. They didn’t ask for permission.

SHAWN CARRIÉ Weeks later, Beirut’s Base Camp is still installed as an open air headquarters of several groups of volunteers working to get people free services that the Lebanese government is failing to provide. “We all met each other during the revolution that started October 17 of last year,” says Samer al-Khoury, one of the founders of the Base Camp, and a member of the activist collective Minteshreen (Arabic for the spread). “We try to help people in terms of whatever they may need that we can give them, whether it be physical, medi- cal, or humanity.” Base Camp’s presence echoes Zuccotti Park, Tahrir Square, and the ethos of the encampments that dotted public squares around the world in 2011, or the community-led disaster relief that New York saw in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Some of the volunteers are activists and community members; oth- ers have (or had) full-time jobs. Dividing into teams, some head out to survey needs in the neighborhood or sort glass and debris for what can be recycled, while their counterparts at Base Camp crunch the data into spreadsheets and work the phones for emotional support. It all gets done remarkably fast, especially considering that most government offi ces in Lebanon still conduct business with paper October 2020 records. Not that they couldn’t fi nd a more effi cient way; dysfunc- tion and corruption is a hallmark of the Lebanese government. Base Camp is open about its critique of the system in choosing to operate outside of it, modeling the type of transparency that they want to see their community run with. In Lebanon, “community” is a loaded concept. With the coun- try’s politics of identity fully institutionalized, Lebanese often com-

THE INDYPENDENT SHAWN CARRIÉ plain that the system sees them not as citizens, but rather as mem- 27 BEIRUT COMES Peace& Planet News

PEOPLE POWER: A volunteer from the Base Camp brings relief supplies to Peace Dedicated to Abolishing War, Establishing Planet Justice, and Fighting ClimateNews Disaster Published Quarterly by Vietnam& Full Disclosure and New York City Veterans For Peace a Beirut family. Such actions have become necessary due to Lebanon’s dysfunctional Number 1 The American Chaos MachineSpring 2020 TO ITS OWN government. U.S. Foreign Policy Goes O the Rails By Danny Sjursen

In March 1906, on the heels of the U.S. Army’s massacre of some 1,000 men, A special edition in solidarity with the Black Lives uprising women, and children in the crater of a volcano in the American-occupied Phil- ippines, humorist Mark Twain took his criticism public. A long-time anti-impe- rialist, he flippantly suggested that Old Glory should be redesigned “with the white stripes painted black and the stars replaced by the skull and cross-bones.” Peace Planet News I got to thinking about that recently, five ALL GONE: A passerby looks out at the Port of Beirut which was destroyed by a years after I became an antiwar dissenter Dedicated to Abolishing War, Establishing Justice, and Fighting Climate Disaster (while still a major in the U.S. Army), and Published Quarterly by Vietnam& Full Disclosure and New York City Veterans For Peace in the wake of another near-war, this time with Iran. I was struck yet again by the way every single U.S. military interven- massive ammonium nitrate explosion. tion in the Greater Middle East since 9/11 Peace Planet News Number 3 has backfired in wildly counterproduc Dedicated to Abolishing War, Establishing Justice, and Fighting Climate Disaster Fall 2020 RESCUE tive ways, destabilizing a vast expanse of - Police and Pentagon the planet stretching from West Africa to Published Quarterly by Vietnam& Full Disclosure and New York City Veterans For Peace South Asia. Chaos, it seems, is now Washington’s stock-in-trade. Perhaps, then, it’s time to BringingNumber Our 2 Wars Home resurrect Twain’s comment—only today Capitalism Versus Life maybe those stars on our flag should be Summer 2020 madness. President Trump’s rash, risky, FROM MEGA-EXPLOSION replaced with the universal symbol for By Ian Angus and repugnant decision to assassinate Ira- bers of a sect — each to a self-interested cadre — hostile to de- chaos. Trump’s other recent escalations in the nian Major General Qassem Suleimani After all, our present administration, region do illustraterom an a recent American report chaos on the conse- on the sovereign soil of Iraq was only the American chaos to its dark but logical however unhinged, hardly launched this machine that’s gonequences off ofthe climate rails. change:And the latest version of what has proven to be a conclusion. very manner—I’m loathe to call it a “pro- pervasive state of affairs. Still, that and F “Sea level rise, changes in wa- cess”—by whichter and it’s food happened security, just and dem- more frequentAny military officer worth his salt knows full well the importance of un- controlled by a deeply- mocracy and openly sowing division — onstrates theextreme way this weather president events has aretaken likely to re- sult in the migration of large segmentsderstanding of the basic psychology of your the population. Rising seas will displace Susan Schnall speaking at continued on page 5 … tens (if not hundreds) of millions of peo- San Francisco GIs and TO MUTUAL AID entrenched establishment that might usurp power to serve its own Veterans March For Peace, ‘I Couldn’t Heal Their Souls’ Oct. 12, 1968. Susan Schnall wasIf anothing Navy nurse dur-stops it, ing the Vietnam War. The following is capital will try toof the guys who were coming back from excerpted from an podcast produced Vietnam. And I heard their stories, their of religious oligarchs and corrupt interests. by Courage to Resistexpand in collabora- infinitely, but pain. I heard their stories of how they tion with Vietnam Full Disclosure. For viewed the Vietnamese and heard how the full transcriptEarth or to listen is tonot the in-infinite they were trained to be killers and trained terview, go to couragetorestist.org or … and capitalismto hateis people who looked different from vietnamfulldisclosure.org. monied elites. As much as It’s precisely this political future that now pressing againstthe way that they did. I don’t know why I was so naïve, but I Matthew Breems: Why don’t you take After years of hypermilitarization, U.S. police didn’t quite expect that. It was startling to us back? How did you those come to alimits. place hear stories firsthand from men who had where resisting the war, specifically the At the People’s Climate March in New York City, September 21,departments 2015. Photo: Ellen Davidson. are recreating our global war zones here at been to war.ter They supplies were inyoung; many they parts were of the world. Vietnam War, became such a life obses- 18, 20, 21 years… A old.warming They trendtold me will their also increase the they have taken to the streets to push for Base Camp is rebelling against. By reject- sion for you?ple, creating massive, enduring instabil- What makes this report significanthome. is With these weapons on our streets, our history of stories, thatrange they hadof insects participated that are in vectorswar, of infec- Susan Schnall:ity. … Salt water intrusion into coastal that it was commissioned by the Pentagon how some oftious them tropical had learned diseases. to hate This, coupled with pire from the consequences of the envi- ing about war,areas because and Let changing me it is start an entityweather by talk- that patterns will and it was published by the U.S. Armystructural racism becomes that much deadlier. “the enemy.”large-scale human migration from tropi- ronmental chaos. When the U.S. military I’ve lived withalso my compromise whole life. or My eliminate dad fresh wa- War College. cal nations, will increase the spread of in- embarks on a campaign, the result is al- was in the Marine Corps in the Second And there were other stories I heard The report recommends strengtheningBy Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and Phyllis Bennis from youngfectious guys who disease.” were in the Navy, ways devastation and destruction for the reform and even revolution, the corrupt ing the hand they’ve been dealt, Beirut’s World War and was killed on the island the U.S. military, already the biggest war who worked with the civilian population, poor and oppressed. of Guam, 1944. I went into the Navy as a machine on Earth, to protect the U.S. em-U.S. military helicopter hovered over crowds of un- Mo., in 2014, an armored personnel carrier stalked the who didn’t have that fear and hatred. But I The U.S. Army, unlike the U.S. presi- nurse and felt that I would be taking care armed civilians, its down-drafts whipping debris agonized protesters who filled the streets. also heard their physical and psychologi- of those who wereCOVID-19 harmed and hurt in a and the Wasting DiseaseAand of broken glassNormalcy into theircontinued faces. Was on page it Mogadishu 8 … Throughout U.S. history, policing has always been cal pain. We had one unit that was called war in SoutheastThe Asia. pandemic has brought home what the threats of or Washington, D.C.? bound up with racism—and the military. the Amputee Unit, and I will never for- establishment parties have found a way youth seek to carve out new possibilities I was sent toglobal Oak Knoll destruction Naval Hospitalby climate change and nuclear war Armed, uniformed men surrounded unarmed civil- Organized police forces in the United States trace their get it. It was an open ward that had about in Oakland, California,should have where long I tookago—that care the promises of normalcy our lives stand intact, let us know neither prison nor ians. One of them shouted “light ’em up” and began fir roots to the slave patrols organized to capture and return will never deliver in the end, that30, they 35 young are lies men that on lead it. They ill reputeall had nor am- disruption of ties.’ And because we must ing projectiles. Was it Baghdad or Minneapolis? enslaved people who managed to escape bondage. - those who trust in them to the ruin. continuedencompass on page 4 this … and protect that, and because at all Armor-clad, armed U.S. officers targeted and fired on After reconstruction, when a pandemic of lynching costs—at all costs—our hopes must march on sched- journalists. Was it Iraq or Louisville? spread across the country, police stood by and in many Meeting the to remain in power. beyond the traditional lines that poli- By Brian Terrell ule, and because it is unheard of that in the name of In every case, it was both. Thanks to years of hyper- cases initiated or assisted the kidnapping, torture, and peace a sword should fall, disjoining that fine and cun militarization, American police departments are re- murder of people in their custody. ut what of the price of peace?” asked Jesuit ning web that our lives have woven … because of this creating our global war zones here at home. With these In the 1950s and ’60s, brutal police attacks against Moment - priest and war resister Daniel Berrigan, writ- we cry peace, peace, and there is no peace.” weapons on our streets, our history of structural racism civil rights activists and African Americans trying to Fifty-four years ago, three “Bing from federal prison in 1969, doing time Fifty-one years later, due to the COVID-19 pan- becomes that much deadlier. register to vote continued the pattern. So did police and Nowhere is the gap between a people’s tics have been drawn along since French for his part in the destruction of draft records. “I think demic, the very notion of normalcy is being questioned In recent weeks, overwhelmingly peaceful demonstra- National Guard violence against antiwar protesters at courageous Army draftees of the good, decent, peace-loving people I have known tors protesting police killings and racism have been met Kent State, Jackson State, and the Chicano Moratorium by the thousands, and I wonder. How many of them by riot police, National Guard troops, and armed fed- in Los Angeles in the 1970s. refused to participate in are so afflicted with the wasting disease of normalcy eral officers wielding tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber- This militarism at home is linked inextricably to U.S. that, even as they declare for the peace, their hands ‘There is a lot of talk about coated metal bullets. Armored personnel carriers prowl militarism abroad. The troops that Trump called in to the illegal war in Vietnam. potential and their reality more clear than colonizers fi rst established the sectarian reach out with an instinctive spasm in the direction returning to “normal” after the streets, turning U.S. cities and towns into war zones. deploy against protesters in Washington, for example, of their loved ones, in the direction of their comforts, It’s shocking, but it’s not the first time. When a police had just returned from duty in Iraq. What are the lessons for their home, their security, their income, their future, the COVID-19 outbreak,’ says officer killed 17-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Today’s “global war on terror” is less visible than in their plans—that 20-year plan of family growth and earlier years. But those wars continue—and it’s mostly active-duty military today? unity, that 50-year plan of decent life and honorable climate activist Greta Thunberg, in Lebanon’s capital. A city of opulence political system in the 1920s to make natural demise.” ‘but normal was a crisis.’ continued on page 17 … Page 20 From his prison cell in a year of mass movements to end the war in Vietnam and mobilizations for nu- clear disarmament, Daniel Berrigan diagnosed nor- as never before. While Donald Trump is “chomping malcy as a disease and labeled it an obstacle to peace. at the bit” to return the economy to normal very soon and rot, Beirut was already reeling from Lebanon easier to divide and rule. “‘Of course, let us have the peace,’ we cry, ‘but at the based on a metric in his own head, more reflective same time let us have normalcy, let us lose nothing, let voices are saying that a return to normal, now or even in the future, is an intolerable threat to be resisted. economic cataclysm long before the ex- For now, their grassroots efforts have continued on page 4 … Phillip and Danial Berrigan burn draft records in Catonsville, Md., in 1968. plosion hit. Lavish and vacant condomin- earned a measure of legitimacy that the iums crowd a downtown that has been state’s “offi cials” have lost — tipping the gutted by vulture developers who prefer balance to become the preferred point of to leave them empty, waiting for new in- distribution for aid that is coming into vestors that don’t appear to be coming. Beirut from international NGOs and for- In late 2019, recession took a turn to something worse. Families saw their “BEIRUT’S entire savings evaporate under searing infl ation. YOUTH SEEK TO The nightly news re- played stories of public suicides of those who’d CARVE OUT NEW lost hope, parents who turned to stealing to feed POSSIBILITIES their families, and armed robbers who sobbed as BEYOND THE they begged for their vic- tims’ forgiveness. TRADITIONAL The political class re- mained apathetic and un- LINES THAT repentant. While the poor lined up at banks to with- POLITICS HAVE draw an allowance that is barely enough to cover BEEN DRAWN basics, the rich whisked their money and assets out of the country before they ALONG.” became worthless. Protests sounded the alarm about what everyone eign dignitaries who visit Lebanon on their knew was happening, but when the lead- way to meetings with government offi cials. ership shuffl ed a few faces, little changed. Coordinators say that state offi cials It’s commonly accepted that the sys- have stopped by — not to offer any con- tem is rotten to the core, but nobody crete support, but usually to ask for data knows what to do about it, or what kind on who they’ve been helping — a request of replacement could win popular sup- that has been fl atly denied. They don’t port from all of Lebanon’s sects. Since have any misconceptions that politics is the explosion in early August, little has a game of vultures, looking to steal their changed, and hope is fading that even shine if they can — but they consider it a a catastrophe of its size will have the success that they’re showing up the com- power to change the establishment. But petition by demonstrating what can be things are now back to the same unbear- done with people power. Base Camp wel- able “normal” — there have been two comes aid from anywhere it may come more fi res at the port, and another major from, and works to make sure it goes to construction project downtown burned where it’s needed in a transparent way. down, as no one who employs workers The blast brought residents of Beirut a seems to have learned the necessity of brief moment of togetherness, and while 2020 October safety standards. ever small, there is hope that commu- Predictably, animosities have once nity will be the remedy to help make it again begun to fester between neighbors, though. After all the city has endured, if as the political establishment played to they can do it, it’s an example to all of us.

familiar and base tendencies to sow divi- INDYPENDENT THE sions between people. The kind of polarization that this Middle East nation of nearly 7 mil- lion people has become accustomed to shouldn’t sound foreign to Americans today. Nor should they think that their government institutions are impervious 28MUSIC

INDEPENDENT MUSIC IN PERIL various virus- and non-virus-related reasons. NON-CORPORATE VENUES ARE FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL WHILE ARTISTS Starr Bar has also been hosting a series of virtual interviews in a HAVE NOWHERE TO PERFORM series called Quarantine TV. The series focuses on various social jus- By Olivia Riggio tice and public health topics. Rev. Moose spoke with Niang during one episode about NIVA. or Bronx-based rapper and multimedia artist the U.S. economy is about fi ve times greater than that of Remaining a social justice-based venue on a solely vir- Dominic “DOMO SXCRAZY” Queen, cre- the agricultural sector. While much of that revenue stems tual platform has been a shift from the lively concerts and ation and performance are a means of therapy. from big stadium performances, smaller clubs around the benefi ts of the past, says McNair Scott, co-proprietor of He had plans throughout the spring and sum- country make up a signifi cant portion as well, bolstering Starr Bar. mer to play shows around the city and even fes- local tourism and economies. In the past, he says, visitors came to Starr Bar to “get tivalsF throughout the country, but after the second week “Next to each independent of March hit, every performance was swiftly cancelled. venue that I had either booked “Pretty much, in an instant, all of it stopped,” he says. a show at or had one of my “All of it was taken away from me in an instant, and that friends play at, there’s a pizza really messed me up.” shop, or there’s a hamburger or Queen frequented independent venues like the Starr donut shop that everyone goes Bar in Brooklyn and played shows booked by Brooklyn to and gives business to when Wildlife, an independent arts curation organization. But the show closes,” says Yacine coronavirus shutdowns have caused the live music indus- Niang, booking manager at try to go on an indefi nite hiatus. Indie venues have been Starr Bar. “It’s not just about forced to close their doors, often with negative revenue the venue. It’s about art and cul- after refunding ticket sales. ture and localized economies.” The prognosis is bleak. Ninety percent of independent Independent venues al- venues across the United States say they’ll have to per- low people like Niang to cut manently close their doors if they don’t receive aid in the their teeth in the industry and next few months. Many already have, according to the practice their skills in a sup- National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), a co- portive and collaborative en- alition of indie venues across the country formed as a vironment. They also create response to the virus’s devastating impact on these cul- space for queer artists, femme tural hubs. artists and artists of color to Its members and allies are demanding Congress pass share their art in a way the two pieces of legislation — the RESTART Act and the commercial music industry Save Our Stages Act to ensure their survival. often restricts or rejects. Rev. Moose, executive director of NIVA and manag- For Queen, independent ing partner and co-founder of Marauder, an independent spaces allowed him to leave booking fi rm, began hosting weekly virtual town hall- the microcosm of Bronx hip- style meetings with independent venues and promoters at hop, share his art with diverse the beginning of the pandemic. groups and listen to other “We were like, ‘Hey, I think we’re all screwed. We genres of performance he may have got to take this to D.C. Who is fi ghting for us in not have otherwise discovered. D.C.?’” says Moose, recalling NIVA’s formation. “We re- “They kind of gave me a alized there was no one. So, you have to do it yourself platform,” he says. “First, when there aren’t other options.” they showed me that it was The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) failed to meet the okay to be yourself and needs of independent venues, Moose said, because the lion’s brought different people to- share of the expenses venues face concern rents, mortgages, gether. But also, it was like, insurance, overhead and carrying costs — not payroll. ‘It’s okay to be who you are, The two pieces of legislation the group is pushing for and enjoy other things outside are similar, but differ in specifi city to the music indus- of your realm.’” try. The RESTART Act, introduced by Todd Young (R- Venues like Starr Bar also IN) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) in the Senate and Jared approach art from a social Golden (D-ME) and Mike Kelly (R-PA) in the House, justice lens. The Bushwick would expand the PPP and allow small businesses to take venue opened in 2017, and out forgivable loans to help them stay afl oat. its fi rst event was a benefi t The Save Our Stages Act, introduced by Senators John for the Standing Rock Sioux Cornyn (R-TX) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), is a $10 #NoDAPL movement. billion grant program to aid venues, promoters, produc- ers, managers and booking agents whose businesses were decimated by the pandemic. Both pieces of legislation WHAT VENUES HAVE have bipartisan support. They also have the backing of FACED more than 600 artists, including the likes of Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, The Black Keys, John Mayer, Dave Grohl and Caroline Olbert works doing Neil Young. Together they’ve signaled their support for live sound for ShapeShifter the legislation in a letter NIVA sent to Congress. Lab, a music venue in Brook- “These are not politically motivated” bills, says lyn. She moved across the Moose. “This is economically motivated and culturally country from California about a year ago to work in mu- together and network and celebrate. Every week, prob- motivated. These are the venues in these local commu- sic and found herself jobless among millions of others this ably, if not more, we would have fundraisers. People nities that host fundraisers and charity events. They’re spring. She’s been relying on a combination of her sav- would use the space to raise money for the things they rented out for birthday parties and weddings. They’re the ings, her family’s support, stimulus and unemployment were working on.” Recreating that atmosphere has ones that international artists come and play through. checks and some freelance audio editing work. proved tricky. They host everyone from young upstarts to global phe- “It felt like March came, and then after that fi rst week, “We’ve put a lot of thought into how we’d do it and so- nomenons, and I think that every single member of Con- everything just hit,” Olbert says. “We had a couple of cial media is sort of the best way we can replicate that now.” October 2020 gress has been to a live event at some point or another, events at the end of the fi rst week and into the second With lockdown restrictions easing in New York City which has made it a lot easier to get their support. But week and every single one of them cancelled, everybody this summer, the Starr Bar team has been serving drinks without a vote, we have nothing.” went into quarantine, and my boss had to email everyone and food to go, and the venue now occasionally holds Independent venues are also incredibly important to on staff and just be like, ‘Yeah, we’re not coming back outdoor dining events where bands and DJs play to a local economies. Arts and culture contributed $877.8 bil- next week. It’s indefi nitely off.’” small crowd. Now, the issue of not attracting too many lion — 4.5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic prod- ShapeShifter began hosting virtual shows this sum- people is a cumbersome balancing act. uct — in 2017, according to the National Endowment mer, which Olbert now sound-engineers, but occasionally “People are trying a bunch of different things,” says

THE INDYPENDENT for the Arts. The fi nancial value arts and culture adds to bands have been forced to cancel their performances for Scott. “It’s just less vibrant.” 29

ARTISTS GRAPPLING MENTALLY & the Parade Grounds near Prospect Park to practice. It felt already have,” she said. FINANCIALLY good to play again and soon Frazier found himself calling It has happened already in GROUNDED: Bronx- friends to join him, which eventually led to him curating regards to booking. In 2017, based rapper and multi- With spaces to perform and network being forced to close an outdoor concert series. As of September, it has taken the corporate entity Golden- media artist Dominic “DOMO their doors, artists’ careers are also a fraction of what place four days a week for 11 weeks. At fi rst, Frazier was voice (owned by AEG World- SXCRAZY” Queen had his they once were. Queen said that in the beginning of the paying the patchwork of musicians he assembled out of wide) took over booking of live performance schedule shutdown, he struggled to create. The isolation and anxi- pocket, but the buskers have since begun making enough the Great American Music upended by the pandemic. ety brought on by the crisis, the trauma from racial ten- money in tips. Hall in San Francisco, lead- sions across the country and the unfortunate timing of his Frazier is currently working through plans to apply for ing to layoffs of many of the laptop breaking plunged him into depression. permits in order to continue the series next summer. historically independent ven- OFF-STAGE: Yacine “I couldn’t DJ,” he says. “I couldn’t do nothing. My “In my heart, I’m satisfi ed and I feel really good,” he ue’s employees. On the East Niang (left), booking manager spirit was so low.” says. “And, weather permitting, for how long I can con- Coast, AEG operates under of Starr Bar, and Starr Bar Luckily, music was not Queen’s main source of income. tinue doing it, whenever it stops, I feel like we did some- monikers including The Bow- co-proprietor McNair Scott are For Mike Frazier, a Brooklyn drummer and dad, it was. thing special and necessary for what’s happening.” ery Presents, which books at experimenting with new ways Brooklyn Steel, Music Hall of to safely stage performances at Williamsburg, Rough Trade their Bushwick-based venue. THE FUTURE OF NYC and other venues that INDEPENDENT EVENTS are owned independently. Corporate control of booking independent venues may Outdoor events, along with prevent scenes from developing organically, Powell said. virtual events, may be the new “In a scene that’s not dominated by this corporate normal for the foreseeable fu- curation, what’s worth investing in happens organically ture. Both have pros and cons. and happens based on what’s appealing to audiences and Outdoor busking makes per- what’s appealing to the culture and what’s appealing to formances accessible to wide people on a local level,” she said. audiences, but artists may Overall, Moose said, when venues are locally owned struggle with making profi ts and operated, community members have more of a say in in the form of voluntary tips. what artists come through, how much tickets and parking When it comes to virtual cost and even what food and drinks are served. events, Olbert says she some- As protests against systemic racism continue, it is also times fi nds it disheartening to important to remember these venues are community spaces be engineering a band in the to share art, culture and ideas. They help nurture the talent empty venue and hearing the and bolster the voices of diverse groups of people in ways quality of the live sound, ver- corporate, commercial venues and bookers do not. sus the way the band sounds “This is a conversation that’s intersectional,” Niang through simple computer says. “As we talk about independent venues, it’s impor- speakers. But it also allows tant to remember that many of them are locally owned. A venues to draw populations it lot of the venue owners are refl ective of the communities may not have otherwise been they come from. And if we want Black artists, if we want able to draw, like those who queer artists, if we want women artists to be invested in

SUE BRISK live too far away to attend and to be booked, we have to save independent venues.” shows. There’s also the benefi t of accessibility for those with disabilities. Those who face limitations that previously prevented them from attend- ing live shows can now enjoy live music from their homes. Live virtual events, how- ever, can’t continue without investments in the venues that host them. Balancing public health with artists’, bookers’ and venues’ need to maintain their livelihoods requires in- creased federal aid. “We’re not saying that we have to be open,” says Moose. “What we’re saying is that we were forced closed and if we’re forced closed — and we’re go- ing to continue to be closed as long as it makes sense because that’s for the good of our com- munity — we just want the

SUE BRISK support to be able to do what’s right for our community.” There’s also the fear that A few years ago, Frazier left the restaurant industry as these independent venues lose money, they will get he had worked in for 23 years to pursue music full time. bought out by large corporations like Live Nation and His wife, Nataliya is a music teacher. Frazier said he’s AEG Worldwide, dissolving local control of these spaces. 2020 October maintained a side hustle throughout the pandemic, but Katherine “K.P.” Powell ran an independent venue in also found himself depressed after dealing with the death Asheville, N.C., and has managed independent bands on of his industry and the struggles his two young sons faced the road. She said she is not sure what the world of in- with remote learning. dependent music will look like after the pandemic, but

“If there’s one word to describe how I’ve felt during that a possibility could be corporate control of the once INDYPENDENT THE this whole pandemic, it’s stranded. I’ve been stranded,” independent realm. he says. “We’ve seen them kind of come from the top and The family took advantage of the stimulus check, trickle down into much more pervasive control. I think which, in reality, didn’t amount to much: “For a house- there is a valid fear in the idea that with this economic hold of my size, it was literally one month of rent … It collapse in small to mid-sized venues that a larger corpo- was less than my monthly expenses.” ration with the funds could come up and buy them out One day over the summer, Frazier took his drums to and have much larger control of the industry than they 30BOOKS HOMELESS, LIKE YOU Nonetheless, the story is somewhat sketchy. That said, parents, grandparents, guardians, teachers & ME Princess Priscilla, for example, remains mysteri- and community educators may want to supplement the ous, an enigmatic soul whose backstory is never volume with a discussion of what it means to live without Priscilla the Princess of the Park revealed. Although I found this frustrating, the shelter. Of course, this has to be done carefully to avoid Written by Pat LaMarche scaring the bejesus out of kids and fi lling their hearts and Illustrated by Bonnie Tweedy Shaw minds with anxiety and fear. Still, if presented well, the Charles Bruce Foundation, 2020 book will increase awareness, empathy, and compassion toward the homeless. What’s more, timing is everything. By Eleanor J. Bader Ironically, as Priscilla became available to readers in the late summer, COVID-inspired eviction and fore- closure moratoriums were beginning to expire in many f it’s Tuesday afternoon, it’s tea time in the park. regions of the country, a horror that is expected to lead to And, mind you, that’s High Tea, served from the a groundswell of homeless individuals and families. fi nest imaginary kettle and using the freshest, most Here in New York City, kids often see homeless folks savory, imaginary leaves. huddled in doorways and on subways and likely have Priscilla, an elderly homeless woman turned concerns and questions about the who, why and how of Iwanna-be princess, is the convenor. Her court is a ragtag their existence. Reading about Priscilla and her courtly assortment of elementary school-aged kids who run, walk subjects can be an effective way to jump-start a conver- and wheel their way to this after-school soiree. Not sur- sation about social justice, poverty, and housing policy. prisingly, it’s the highlight of their week. It’s then our job to help kids imagine — and grow up Racially, ethnically and economically diverse, the to build — a world without poverty, where everyone is youthful gang includes curly-haired, spunky Magdalena, treated with respect, no matter their fi nancial status or whose parents believe their daughter’s royal playmate is life trajectory. imaginary; brothers Tomas and Hugo, one tender-hearted and the other prone to bullying; Jillian, born with spina bifi da, who has perfected the art of wheelchair dancing; and twins Jeff and Beth, who work hard to hide the fact that they live in a car with their single-parent dad. Writer LaMarche — yes, this is the Pat LaMarche who was the vice-presidential candidate of the Green Party in 2004—says that Priscilla the Princess of the Park was written “for kids aged seven to 700.” It’s an impressive effort. Nineteen short, beautifully illustrated chapters in- troduce a bevy of themes, all meant to sensitize readers fact that Priscilla the Princess of the Park is just the fi rst to the realities of U.S. homelessness and highlight the hu- installment of what will eventually be a four-part book manity of those who live in the streets, in parks, and in series, means that the door is open for this and other un- cars, storage facilities, and overcrowded dwellings. answered questions to be resolved. October 2020 THE INDYPENDENT 31

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CONGRATULATIONS ON 20 YEARS: THE INDYPENDENT! from Monthly Review magazine & Monthly Review Press October 2020 October THE INDYPENDENT THE

Monthly Review monthlyreview.org 32ANARCHISM DAVID are a challenge and an inspiration to the rest of us in the movement. Arguably, David’s finest hour as an ac- tivist and author was the serendipitous GRAEBER publication of Debt: The First 5,000 Years SCHOLAR, TROUBLEMAKER, just as public anger over the economic de- bacle of 2008 was coalescing into Occupy Wall Street and the wave of autonomous, FRIEND directly democratic organizing around it. An early OWS organizer, David will always be associated with the slogan, “We are the By Eric Laursen 99%!” (although he did not claim sole credit for it). His real achievement was to make us see debt for ossibly the last thing David Graeber what it really is: a system of domination that privi- wrote for publication was an introduc- leges those who are assumed to have “good credit” tion he co-authored, with his longtime and disadvantage those who are assumed not to. friend and intellectual comrade Andrej Many people had some understanding of this af- Grubacic, for Mutual Aid, the classic ter the 2008 crash, but David — in his book and Pwork on the history of human (and animal) coop- through his work with OWS — helped crystallize it eration by the 19th-century Russian anarchist Peter and make it a focal point for organizing. Kropotkin. Discussing the impact of Kropotkin’s David was always bombarding us with fresh book, which challenged the dog-eat-dog morality ideas and perspectives, from the Rolling Jubilee that capitalism had embraced through a misreading Fund that buys and erases debt to the plague of of Darwin’s theory of evolution, David and Andrej “bullshit jobs” to the “secret joys of bureaucracy” said the following: “Such interventions … reveal as- to his delightful essay on “The People as Nurse- pects of reality that had been largely invisible but, maids to the King” (read it and find out). Many once revealed, seem so entirely obvious that they of us remember the time Washington, D.C., police can never be unseen.” kettled hundreds of activists, including David, and Anyone who knew him will immediately recog- he turned the tables by ordering dozens of pizzas nize this as pure David, laying out his lifelong quest to be delivered to the captive masses. (Like Emma to uncover patterns and tendencies in human be- Goldman, David came to the revolution to dance.) havior that our rulers — the authorities, the state, There was never a problem or a situation, as far as organized religion, capitalists and the rest — work David was concerned, that couldn’t be tweaked to so hard to obscure. Uncovering these patterns, as signify something other than what we’re told it sig- Kropotkin did in his book, is not just fun and en- nifies, and probably something liberating. It could lightening — which appealed to David’s impish side be in the form of written word or direct action, but — but a lifeline, offering us alternative paths in a either way, it bore the mark of his unique mind. world marked by fear, exploitation, poverty, war With David gone from us at 59, the tragedy is and mass murder and the destruction of any culture that there would have been so much more. We can outside the marketplace. still look forward to his last book, The Dawn of In our two decades of friendship and occasional Everything: A New History of Humanity, which collaboration, I never knew David happier than was written with David Wengrow and attacks the when he could begin a sentence, “Well, the funny many false assumptions that reinforce inequality as LYNNE FOSTER LYNNE thing is … ,” always followed by a paradoxical ob- an inevitable part of human development, which servation about some institution, famous person or comes out next year. But he won’t be around to aspect of human history and development. He made provide the playful turn of thought that he always learning and enlightenment genuinely stimulating, brought to our theory and practice as activists. Per- but he was also intensely serious about it, because sonally, I’ll remember the many times we swapped for him, as for all the best thinkers, everything — ideas, frustrations and plans when we both lived the world, human life — depended on it. in New York — often in front of a laptop on the David and I became friends in early 2000 as floor of his apartment in the union-sponsored Penn members of the New York City Direct Action South complex (David was a proud New Yorker, Network, which brought together anarchists and proud of his working-class roots) or in a small res- anarcho- tolerant activists, initially around the mass taurant on West 32nd Street where David could sat- protests that followed the 1999 shutdown of the isfy his relentless craving for Korean food. I regret World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle: the that we’ll never do it again. same setting that gave birth to The Indypendent. What we still have is the books — his “children,” Like me, he had been politically active and an anar- he called them — and the opportunity they give us chist for years, but his literary debut as such came to study his method, absorb his faith in self-orga- in 2004 with the publication of a “tiny little book” nizing and mutual aid, and try to apply it ourselves. (as he called it), Fragments of an Anarchist Anthro- Here’s how I distill it: pology. Still my favorite of his writings, it identified Observation. Paradox. Analysis. Communica- an anarchist strain in anthropology going back to tion. Action. Occasionally, all at the same time. some of its earliest practi tioners and laid out a se- ries of projects for the anarchist movement that are just as exciting to consider today, including:

• a theory of the state, • a theory of political entities that are not states, • a new theory of capitalism, • an ecology of voluntary organizations, • a theory of political happiness, • an analysis of the privatization of desire, and October 2020 • one or several theories of alienation.

The book was a kind of manifesto, and the com- mon denominator in all the above was the same as it would be throughout David’s life as scholar and activist: to make us see our world and ourselves dif- ferently, as hopeful, as unbounded. Some of these

THE INDYPENDENT projects he tackled himself before his death, others 33

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Hey Billy, Dear Reverend Billy, I’ve been watching West Coast forest I’ve waited almost four years for the fi res on my computer, and I’m freak- chance to vote Trump out of the White ing out. There are whole towns being House. And now it looks more every consumed by fl ames. Giant smoke clouds day like Trump and his buddies are go- covering cities hundreds of miles away. ing to steal the election. If that happens, Then there’s the hurricanes and the ice what should we do? What will you do? sheets cracking up faster and faster. This is some scary shit. I didn’t doubt the EVELYN science of climate change, but I thought Crown Heights it was something that would happen in the future. Now it feels like we may have raced past the last off-ramp and we’re Dear Evelyn, on the highway to hell. If there’s still Yes, it is very likely that Trump will take hope, tell me about it, please. the White House hostage. He has many Congratulations to The Indypendent MITCH scenarios there with the Republican Sen- Astoria ate and a stacked Supreme Court. Trump for 20 years of covering social justice will send militias to more cities, which will embolden local racist police. He will movements in Brooklyn, New York, Dear Mitch, sign off on assassinations, increasing pol- The Earth can absorb a thousand Donald lution, the rich getting richer. and beyond! Trumps and spit them out before break- I fi nd myself looking to David Graeber fast. Along the way, lots of us will die and John Lewis and RBG for answers. and we’re dying now in droves. Wealthy In their dramatic lives, they persevered Your work nurtures the movements white people are moving to the Adiron- and won the day. God knows — it wasn’t dacks and they think they are safe. easier for them than it will be for us. of organized people which are needed Safety is no longer a realistic goal. Wouldn’t they counsel us to stay steady, For so many years, the USA’s safety was make trusting, sharing relationships, to- to achieve our shared goal: a world based on the theft of the safety of much ward a social movement of resistance and of the world. Now our imperialism and love? From death, I hear them saying, free of militarism and the social and racism are backdrafting at us in the form “Don’t fear death — be bold!” of wildfi res, monster storms and waves Lovealujah! economic injustices which lead to war. and waves of invisible animals sneaking into our oxygen supply. What a drag! I apologize, Mitch. I should respect REVEREND BILLY IS PASTOR OF THE your question. I’m scared too. And, yes, CHURCH OF STOP SHOPPING. HAVE A QUES- October 2020 there is one thing that can bring a mea- TION FOR THE REVEREND? JUST EMAIL sure of safety in this world. Get Donald [email protected] AND UN- Trump out of offi ce. BURDEN YOUR SOUL. BROOKLYN FOR PEACE FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: BROOKLYNPEACE.ORG • • • [email protected] | 718-624-5921 @brooklyn4peace THE INDYPENDENT 35

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