PRDCESSED Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 http://www.archive.org/details/processedworld30proc . PRDCESSED LUDRLD Winter/Spring 1992-93 • Issue 30 ISSN 0735-9381 footers- . ^ ^ \^ Line AT *'''*P»e6Ve ^ The material ^Processed World reflecti tbe ideas and fontasies of the spedik authors and artists, necessarily those of other ^'^ and not k5h(i contributors, editors or BACAT. Processed World is a project of the Bay Area Center for Art t Technology (BACAT), a non- profit, tax-exempt corporation. BACAT can be contacted at 1095 ?MCiSSef> Market St. »209, San Francisco, SHIT' ^i'^l CA94103;P»' or BACAT may be phoned at (415) 626-2979 or CAflTMISM, faxed at (415) 626-2685. /^ocessei/ World is collectively edited and RACISM f eNTRoPi^ 30 produced. Nobody gets paid n (except the primer, the post officey UPS and the landlord). We wel- cooK comments, letters, and sub- missions (no originals!). Write us at 41 Sutter St. #1829, San Francisco, CA 94104. Processed World is indexed in the Alter- native Press Index. J)O^JNT-; > HC / ^ CJ^ o- A /- "3' ROiTsetT AKcHieetAGo ?" Other Contributors to Processed World MO: Jennie, Aunt Muriel. Ace Back- words, Doug MinkJer, I.E. Nelson. Tom Tomorrow, Joven K., Angela Bocagc, S. Devaney, Cory Pmu, Hugh D'Andrade, Social Club, Typesetting Etc., Totally Normal, J.F. Batdlier, Solly Malulu, Komoilon for the great benefits, M.N.,—Francesca, Med-o, Bret, ' — y others. ^ S^— U<4^ blocks away from the "political" riot; in other places an orgy of looting was in SHITTINQ HEADS progress. By the next day the mood had shifted — more fear, more condemna- After two centuries of na- On April 30, 1992, San Francisco tion, more footage on the violence tionhood and four decades of underwent an abrupt sea change. Re- against passers-by in Los Angeles, more sponse to the Simi Valley acquittals of portrayals of the rebellion as racial cold war and hysterical mili- the cops who beat Rodney King blazed thuggery. But people were still talking. tarism we've become one sick across San Francisco too. There had At least some of the racial barriers had society. The military empire been a continuous flow of rumors and eroded — black and white people talking coffee breaks that day; on May 1st work about race and rebellion! Together! built officially to combat for- almost ground to a halt while people There was much excitement about a eign threats has produced a talked about the verdict. Discussion of demonstration planned in the Mission domestic society committed to looting led to talk of poverty and District (a neighborhood of Latinos, police, prison, and control as racism — topics usually off-limits in cor- Asians, and students) that night. porate America. The late afternoon The police swept the Mission, netting its solution to social ills. From financial district was spookily quiet and hundreds of people, hauling them off in the rapid proliferation of "se- empty. The public transit system had groups large and small, then processing curity" jobs to the increasing closed early. Bay Area "Rapid" Transit them in a pier warehouse. Most were criminalization of ever wider had locked its gates to "immobilize released 36 hours later, after being looters." hauled to another county and subjected groups of people, the militari- Confrontations with police erupted to standard prison abuses. It was an zation of our daily lives pene- around the Civic Center and spread eye-opening experience for many, a trates deeper than ever. through downtown. Scattered looting, civics lesson not included in your "good some planned, some random, began citizen" curriculum; police are petty- minded thugs and inept bureaucrats. One angry white protester, threatened with arrest if he didn't stand on the side- walk, screamed back, "This is a fascist SAN FRANCISCO state!" A young black woman wryly com- ments, "Welcome to America, honey." Across the bay, Berkeley is in a chronic state of alert. Last year the University of California renewed its 25-year assault on People's Park and built a swank volleyball court — allegedly for the students, but clearly with an eye towards removing street people, con- certs, and other unwanted disturbances to public order. Since then there have been many clashes, some sabotage, and a little bit of volleyball played in what the county sheriff called "the world's largest catbox." Police helicopters over- head announce confrontations louder than the media. Telegraph Avenue, judging by its copious plywood barriers over windows and squads of riot cops, is prepared for low-level insurgency. The authorities demonstrate once again that a heavy police presence can "maintain calm." Recent civil disturbances — a. k. a. "ri- ots"— are the steam escaping from the pressure cooker of modern urban life, ^as Vegas (notably), Toronto, New :'ork, Seattle, Atlanta, and Washington )G have all erupted. In San Francisco lere was rage, much of it misdirected, ONE NEAT CITY lost of it inarticulate, but not blind, /hite people did not fear attack at the mds of a "wilding" black mob as the Pi=M=IEZE55EE] hJJCIF^h_D 3C3 . n /I. media would have us believe; anger was PROCESSING directed where it belonged, at the cops. As the disparity between worlds ("1st" and "3rd," rich and poor) grows we will "need" more police and jails. "We" will explore new dimensions of the national security state. "Our" Army, too, may find its greatest use at home, even while the Pentagon is lusting to be Texas Ranger to the world. This militarization of everyday life — surveillance cameras, new technologies, US army raids on marijuana patches, loss of basic rights (most notably, 4th Amendment protections against search and seizure) — affects us all. Fearing theft and assault, people become suspi- cious of one another. We are driven regimented factory of the post office. of sex magazines. Our "Downtime" apart when authority is internalized. "Avon Calling" is a factory Tale of Toil section introduces the Time Thieves The old joke about "Help the Police: which looks at a slightly different role Corner, and more. Our excellent let- Beat Yourself Up" is closer to reality that "temps" play in the modern econo- ters—thanks all you writers — offer a than fantasy. Pressure to snitch on my. "God's Work" examines the world glimpse of the connections percolating neighbors, family and co-workers will of paid care for the elderly and resis- out there. Also from our mailbox is a continue: because they have a TV they tance to work abuse in Jeff Kelly's Tale paean from The Chicago Surrealists didn't have before the riots, because of Toil. Group to the recent Chicago floods. An they smoke funny stuff, because they Dehumanizing and pointless work expanded section of poetry utilizes di- have unapproved sexual preferences. (illustrated on our cover by JRS — verse styles in exploring equally diverse And at any minute the police may returning from his "Vacation" on issue topics, ranging from old women to arrive. Even the wrong address, or a #25) is also analyzed at some length in People's Park to the office — and beyond. lying call from a vindictive neighbor can other articles. Chris Carlsson's "What And Primitivo drags the Old Crow into bring the "innocent" into abrupt — even Work Matters?" calls for a new ap- the (almost) 21st century in his parodic fatal — confrontation with the forces of proach to organizing, moving from an "The Ravin'." Law 'n' Order. attack on traditional unionism to a Thanks to the great response by The people of Rio know what it is to reevaluation of the work being done. He readers to our pleas and improved be confronted by such forces; the tanks also reviews "American Dream," the circulation at the newsstand, PW is were called out to protect Ecocrats from documentary on the '86-'87 Hormel almost not broke! Note our increased rccility at the recent "summit" confer- strike in Austin, MN. Mickey D's size — a direct reflection of the wealth of ence. In addition to soldiers lining review of "The Overworked American" printed material we have received. roads, the government literally swept up also probes the weak points of "labor" Many thanks to adl who contributed to many of the street children that inhabit critiques: which work is worth doing? this issue through work, money, word- Rio, who are subject, even in "ordinary" "91 1" gives a fictional (we hope) account of-mouth, or general subversion! We times, to death squads. Giving us in- of how overwork stymies "family val- couldn't do it without ya! sight on the June '92 Earth Summit is ues." "The Rustbelt Archipelago" (by Jon Christensen and associates, who P.M., the author of Bolo-Bolo — see issue It looks like "Education" is happenin' voyaged there carrying PM^ credentials. #17) looks at the reinvention of former in our next issue . we've got a number He has also provided reviews of "Books factory cities, with particular attention of educational articles and short stories, that won't save the earth." He and to the former Soviet Union and "time on and are hoping for more analyses and Primitivo Morales cross words in an the job." Tales of Toil . Write to Processed World, exchange on Intellectual Property Adam Cornford's "Processed Shit," a 41 Sutter St #1829, SF, CA, 94104 Fax Rights and their utility in the "develop- trenchant dissection of American racism us at (415) 626-2685 E-Mail us at ing" world. and cultural definitions of good and [email protected]. Future issues On a related ecological front we bad, reveals that the recent LA riots are might also include Voluntarism and the interview Judi Bari, long-time labor not some isolated event, but part of our Service Economy; The 21st Century: A agitator and Earth Firstler in "A Shit legacy.