Parents occupying field house win demands

Chicago Public Schools agreed Monday to lease a field house next to Whittier Elementary School to a community group for $1 a year and build a library inside the school.

The action comes as a group of Pilsen parents continued a sit-in to gain control of the building and convert it into a library to prevent it from being razed.

more at Sun-Times

Man brought gun to foreclosure hearing

A Chicago man was charged Monday with unlawful use of a weapon, accused of trying to bring a loaded handgun to a court hearing where he was set to be evicted from his home, authorities said today.

According to the Cook County Sheriff's office, the home of Thomas Pridgeon, 48, in the 7300 block of South Laflin Street had already been in foreclosure when he arrived Monday morning at Daley Center.

When he got to the security checkpoint, Pridgeon put his briefcase on a belt passing through an X-ray machine as he passed through the metal detector. The courthouse deputy monitoring the X-ray machine spotted the outline of a gun in the case, the sheriff's office said in a statement.

Pridgeon told police he forgot to remove the .45-caliber handgun, which had one round in the chamber and seven more in the clip. He was immediately arrested.

According to the sheriff's statement, the purpose of Monday's hearing was to approve the sale of the Laflin property to a lender in North Carolina, which purchased it at a tax sale. Pridgeon would have had 30 days to vacate the property and turn the home over to the new owners.

from the Sun-Times

Lowercase squat facing eviction

The Lowercase Collective has existed for over three years now. It has been a public squat for two years, and opened its doors to countless people, projects, and events. One would be hard pressed to find an anarchist who has travelled through Chicago without ever spending time in this space. When a place becomes so integral to the collective ethos of a community, as Lowercase has in Chicago, its destruction can be simply debilitating.

On December 18th, we received an eviction notice for our landlord, who is in all likelihood a fictitious entity. Shortly thereafter, we proved to the state that we ourselves have been responsible for paying the bills for the past years, making repairs, etc. Unfortunately, our attempts were only able to buy us a few more weeks, as the eviction notice for all occupants
came like a cold wind. Despite the machinations of the Federal National Mortgage Association, or any other partial owners, we have no intention of leaving this space without a fight.

Social tension has been percolating throughout our neighborhood for some time now. There is a general hatred of the police, all the more so with the existence of gangs on our street. Within a two-block radius, three other families have already been evicted in the past few months. A month ago, a black man just riding his bicycle was knocked off it by the police, beat up, and left without his bike in front of the watching eyes of the neighborhood. With all of this occurring in the context of our neighbors reproducing capital and themselves on the daily, this situation could prove explosive, as we look to push those tensions to the breaking point.

As the legal situation surrounding the house crystallizes, we will be announcing the time in which we want to invite our friends, in Chicago, the Midwest, and elsewhere, to join us for the most crucial aspect of solidarity: collective action on the day of eviction. We hope to create something truly wild around the very place we eat, sleep, fuck, dream, and share ourselves with each other. We hope for solidarity actions from friends who can’t make it here, but are more hopeful to see your faces.

Defending space in which we live, share, and combat capital is integral to revolutionary movements. Our past has connected us to so many different trajectories, and in the near future, perhaps together through our actions we can give ourselves the time and space to create so many more.

from Occupy CA

see also: Chicago Indymedia

Cabrini Green anti-eviction blockade announced

We are kicking off the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaing this Tuesday with an eviction blockade to stop Lenise Forrest and her family from being evicted from Cabrini Green for owing back rent. She had a payment plan under previous management but the new management has refused to recognize it and is trying to put her out on the street. She is appealing the eviction but the Sheriff is still scheduled to evict her Tuesday morning.

from Chicago IndyMedia

Des Plaines: Workers threaten sit-in at Harmax factory

Hartmarx Corp. garment workers voted on Monday morning to stage a sit-in at a Des Plaines factory if a new owner tries to shut it down.

The plant, where suit jackets are made, halted production for about 15 minutes Monday morning so workers could vote on union leaders' recommendation to be prepared to stage a sit-in to save their jobs, said Ruby Sims, president of Local 39C of Workers United, which is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union.

The workers voted in favor of a sit-in by show of hands, Sims said. During a sit-in, workers refuse to leave the factory.

Workers at Republic Windows and Doors drew national attention to their cause in December when they staged a six-day sit in after their Chicago factory shut down abruptly. The workers won back severance pay and health-care benefits. And when the factory reopened this year under new ownership, some workers returned to their jobs.

Chicago-based Hartmarx filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January and is in talks to be sold. The apparel maker employs about 3,000 unionized workers including 600 at the Des Plaines factory.

from the Trib

Bossnapping: Insurrectionary adventurism or opportunism?

PARIS (AFP) — Bosses across the world are having to break bad news to employees as companies go under. But that can be a risky business in France, where some furious workers have taken to holding their managers hostage to demand better pay-offs.

In the latest outbreak of "bossnapping", workers at a pharmaceutical factory were Wednesday holding their boss in his office for a second day to force him to improve their redundancy packages.

"This action is our only currency. But there is no aggression," said union representative Jean-Francois Caparros from the plant owned by the US industrial conglomerate 3M in the central town of Pithiviers.

The detention came less than two weeks after workers held the boss of Sony France hostage for a night and barricaded their factory entrance with tree trunks. They freed him only after he agreed to reopen talks on their pay-off.

In neither case did police intervene to free the managers, in a tacit recognition that such radical tactics were part of negotiations and that no harm would come to the bosses.

more from the AFP

32 Illinois banks at risk for failure in 2009

More than 30 Illinois banks and thrifts have high levels of delinquent loans and stand a greater risk of being closed by regulators in 2009 if they don't improve performance, raise capital or get acquired, according to a new report.

from the Trib

You don't need a weatherman to know: Hot Summer ahead?

Below, a call coming out of Britain; not really a call, though, more like a shrug and a suggestion. The suggestion, though, is not only for the return of summit-hopping but what looks like a variety of events and actions hoping to capture the momentum and move it beyond the summit. The spirit reminds me of the 7-Week Revolt in Eugene. I have no idea what traction this call has or who's supporting it -- this is just one of those whispers or rumors that pop up every now and then.

There’s no doubt that the six weeks from March 28th - May 4th offers our anarchist movement a chance to move out of the shadows. Against the background of recession there has been rioting across Europe from Riga to Sofia. These are riots not by activists but by poor people hurting badly. The Greek uprising has provided a fine example of anarchists being prominent in a wider social movement for radical change. In Britain the war on Gaza and the Heathrow runway decision has brought protests - and direct action - back on the street across the country. They are not yet focused on the recession but they may become so. The G20 summit in London on April 2nd provides an opportunity for all these strands across Europe to come together as in the PARIS DECLARATION calling for a mass demonstration in London on March 28th - Saturday before summit - and across Europe on April 1st-2nd. In London the Trade Unions, Stop the War are organising marches on April 2nd. ‘THE BEHEADING CAPITALISM’ event by the folks behind J18 is planned for the same day. Other anarchists are planning a large central London anarchist rally on the night of April 1st with speakers from across Europe. After G20 the European leaders move on to the NATO summit in Germany - sure to get the anarchists back on the streets.

To often momentum is built over a few events then dribbles away. But this year we have the Mayday marches, a planned UK anarchist conference in London over May2-3rd and a Reclaim the Streets event in Brighton on May 4th. The fates are with us comrades, the sheep's entrails are promising, all we need are a few portents and omens to kick the whole fucking thing off.

JOIN THE SPRING OFFENSIVE!

I occasionally forget that anti-war marches take place on March 20. Is this a sign of my growing apathy or am I becoming more human? The recent anti-war movement died before the U.S. even invaded Iraq. It's become a voter base and a campaign slogan, a messy recruiting ground for socialist slugs and prime turf for Leftist power plays. As my more pessimistic friends might argue, this is of course exactly why some anarchists are interested in inserting themselves upon the anti-war sects, to recruit and get a hand in the game ("Beheading Capitalism," though, sounds weird enough to perhaps warrant investigation, if one happened to be in London).

On the other hand, the remnants of the anti-war movement have been doing their thing for over six years now, they have the experience to gather and restrain large crowds and they regularly try to manifest them (even if in recent years ticket sales are down). The extent to which anti-war happenings have any substance is the degree to which they can be used to point at, and beyond, the larger contemporary social situation that sinks more and more into crisis.

In Chicago, the traditional anti-war party crew is getting into its annual legal battle over where to parade. A press release suggests the organizers decided this years anniversary march is going to be a dual "peace/immigrant rights" march, so instead of focusing on the economy as a whole they'll be making sure to break it down into "issues." Immigrant rights marches still attract larger crowds than the anti-war movement, so perhaps it's an issue of increasing numbers.

Even though it's totally fucked for the government to deny a permit to this kind of event, it's kind of hilarious watching organizers squirm. The press release makes it sound like the city is trying to destroy the anti-war march, but it appears the city's primary concern is the chaos of St. Patrick's Day. Why anyone would want to compete with St. Patrick in this town is unknown to me; the city has offered the 21st, a day that is closer to the initial invasion date, but apparently there's an anti-war march in D.C. that day and some of the organizing group wants to be able to go to both (I doubt that a march in D.C. would have a significant impact on attendance at the Chicago march, except maybe a few less group leaders). What they're actually saying is that a D.C. march is as much a holy day to a Leftist as St. Patrick's is to many a Chicagoan (come to Chicago, it's a party). How many folks go to D.C. for marches anyway?

The permit fight will attract some publicity to the event, but most of Chicago -- even those attracted by the inclusion of an immigration plank next to opposition to the war -- will see the event as the usual stuff by the usual crowd; they're not even expecting 3,000 marchers this year.

Chicago is hosting Finding Our Roots in April and Bash Back's Queer Convergence in May; the ISO usually holds "Socialism 200x") out by O'Hare and joining the fray is Platypus with their "national convention" in June. Chicago appears to be flexing for activist cred, but the signs of brooding social revolt are few and far between. Are gatherings like these lightning rods for discontent or do they just further alienate theorists of revolution from those aching to revolt?

An assortment of Left groups have also begun mobilizing against Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid. I'm not really sure what this is going to entail beyond anti-Olympics forums, but the bid committee visit itself could offer a chance to let the IOC know directly how Chicagoans feels about the opportunity to host the games. A simple fuckup by the Chicago police in the weeks beforehand could unleash anger that might mix with and emerge against the bid, turning Chicago into Oakland at the most inopportune of times. The strength of the recession might somehow inflame citizen passions into resistance; but we're used to being robbed. It's just as likely everything will go on without a hitch.

At this point the future is as confusing for us as it is the capitalists predicting and praying for economic recovery. Over the past several months the opening salvos have been fired, and as economic decay quickly spreads across the globe discontent follows. The desire to exacerbate conflict has our mouths watering like wolves, but if we give in to our urge, our attention is drawn to a hundred different arenas. On what specific cause should we set ourselves, some ask, so as to be nearest the next social rupture?

Economic crisis binds us in new ways, it makes obvious to all the way every aspect of our lives is dominated by capitalist order. We do not need to look any further for a reason to revolt. We would do better to focus on our own experiences than chasing around the causes of others; our commonality is found in sharing ourselves in revolt and overcoming this order collectively.

The U.S. hasn't seen a period of generalized anger and social disorder in ages, but the approaching summer has every possibility of heralding a new age. The authorities tremble and we both know what is coming. Spring offers a handful of playgrounds for experimentation filled with the profound sense of urgency and yet dwarfed by the gravity of what may lie ahead. Do we dare try out these last few chances and fool ourselves with dreams of our own agency, or will anarchists be left as surprised as any others when the wicked economic whip wraps itself around our necks?

Republic spirit spreads

In Ireland, in an act reminiscent of a situation in Chicago a couple months ago, workers at a glass factory stormed the factory lobby when they discovered their company would be going out of business. So far, they are demanding to meet with a company official.

Capitalism is the disaster

I've noticed a disconcerting trend in the news media that's been accelerating in the last few weeks -- a huge influx of articles aimed at reminding workers and the unemployed to work harder, lower their expectations, demand less and tighten their belts. A "survival guide" to keeping one's job suggests even:

For now, forget about work-life balance. A major preoccupation when the economy was humming along nicely, "having time for outside interests has to go right out the window now," says Bright. "You need to concentrate on doing whatever it takes to make yourself indispensable."

I am regularly reminded by friends, family and media that, with the state of the economy, I need to put my nose to the grindstone, be productive and simply be thankful that I still have a job. The unspoken urging is also that I shouldn't grumble or complain, and should rely on the folks in power to fix up what is supposed to be a minor speed bump.

Naomi Klein uses the phrase "disaster capitalism" to describe particular instances of capitalist restructuring after conflicts, crises or natural disasters -- but the authors of the "End of the world" essay in Harbinger #5 would consider capitalism a state of constant disaster. Nevertheless, Klein's examples lay a foundation for interpreting capitalist restructuring during the current crisis and remembering who benefits from government intervention.

The demands forced on us in times of economic crises remind me of Harry Cleaver's interpretation of capitalism, and how crisis is used to intensify the "boundless imposition of work":

Capitalism is not just a social system which exploits people through work, such that we can think about ending the exploitation and keeping the work, it is a social system which tendentially subordinates all of life to work and by so doing alienates those it forces to work and prevents them from developing their own paths of self-realization. The subordination of life to work means not only are we forced to work long hours--such long hours that we have little energy left over for other activities--but that those other activities tend to be reduced to the mere recreation of life as labor power, i.e., the willingness and ability to work.

I also want to toss in a link to the section on work from a translation of "The Coming Insurrection," which points out capitalism's method of survival is by intensifying production and inventing more work -- keeping busy for the sake of keeping busy and maintaining commodity flow:

To work today is less about the economic need of producing commodities than about the political need to produce producers and consumers, to save the order of work by any means necessary.

These quotes have been on my mind as I contemplate the inanity of my own job -- its total crushing of my mind and spirit, and yet my own inability to quit (lacking both means and will).

Tribune article highlights needs for widespread squatting

Cindy Almendarez avoided the homeless shelter for as long as possible, shuffling her children from a friend's basement to a roach-infested apartment before bunking down in the back seat of her car, where, for nearly two weeks, they tried to pretend they were camping.

She tried to cheer up Zachary, 10, and Zarah, 4, by joking that the family was "temporarily unassigned a permanent location" before finally winding up at a PADS Crisis Services homeless shelter this fall.

Almendarez, 41, is one of the early victims of the foreclosure crisis, losing her Waukegan home in February 2007 after the death of her husband. Spiraling into depression, she lost her job, her financial footing and personal dignity as she tried to keep the children's daily routines intact while recovering from her losses.

Across the Chicago area, social service providers say more families are turning to shelters. Just as alarming, they say, is the ballooning number of people who aren't homeless—yet—but who, lacking intervention, could join the ranks in 2009.

Some have been evicted from apartments after their landlord was foreclosed upon, and cannot afford the security deposit required to rent a new one. Others had their hours cut back at work and are struggling to meet their monthly bills.

"They were already just hanging on," said Marilyn Farmer, the executive director of the Morning Star Mission in Joliet.

Since October, Chicago-area homeless shelters have reported increases of anywhere from 5 percent to 39 percent in people needing immediate housing, compared with the same time the previous year. The number of homeless students enrolled by Chicago Public Schools in November was 9,132—up 28 percent compared with November 2007, a spokeswoman said.

What's harder to quantify are the numbers of people on the brink.

Experts say that's because becoming homeless usually happens over time, not abruptly, and may never involve a formal shelter or governmental agency.

"People will use up every available resource, staying in a motel, staying with friends and family," even in their car, before going to a shelter, said Lynda Schueler, executive director of West Suburban PADS, based in Oak Park.

But social service providers are noticing an uptick in people asking for the kinds of help that often presages homelessness—primarily help in paying their rent or mortgage and to catch up with utility bills.

"Lots of people are living doubled up," said Darlene Marcusson, executive director of the Lazarus House in Wheaton, which has seen a 20 percent increase in people seeking help to pay rent.

full story at the Trib

Real estate CEO kills himself

A Chicago commercial real estate broker committed suicide in a Kane County wildlife preserve, police said Monday.

A maintenance worker discovered the body of Steven L. Good, 52, of Highland Park, Monday morning behind the wheel of his Jaguar parked in a lot at the Max McGraw Wildlife Preserve in East Dundee, said Kane County Sheriff's Department spokesman Lt. Pat Gengler.

Good had suffered a single gunshot wound to the head. Gengler said police recovered a weapon inside the car but he would not identify it. There was no note, Gengler said.

Investigators are not sure how long Good's body had been at the preserve or why he was in Kane County, Gengler said.

Last month during an industry forecast, Good said conditions in the commercial real estate market were very challenging. Investment activity in commercial space has slowed to a crawl because of tight commercial lending policies and the job market's contraction, he said.

Police are investigating what led to the suicide.

Good was chairman and CEO of Sheldon Good & Co., founded by his father, Sheldon Good, in 1965. Steven Good was largely responsible for the company's expansion as it became the largest real estate auction company in the nation.

from the Trib

Thoughts on the Republic Window takeover

The factory takeover at Republic Windows has quickly generated huge media attention and widespread support. It's also become a rallying cry for assorted Leftist political groups, interpreting the action and its motivations to fit their agenda and program. In its least malicious guise is the suggestion that the action is the start of some sort of "new movement" (an exciting possibility, but a bit premature of a claim); at worst Leftists impose their own messaging over the workers' intentions and see the workers as a potential vanguard for whatever diabolical intention they have in mind.

I find the takeover extremely inspiring and thrilling, but I think it's also important to temper that excitement with the on-the-ground reality at the factory and make an attempt, at least, to take off my black-and-red ideological glasses while looking at the situation.

The action is not a "sit-down strike" -- thought it's an exciting term, the action is not a strike. Folks who use the term are either misinformed or imposing their own delusions over what the action is about. Moreover, it fits it into the category of acceptable labor actions, and doesn't recognize it for what it essentially is -- criminal action by workers stealing and trespassing on private property.

The quick intervention by liberal establishment folks like Jesse Jackson and Luis Gutierrez, and the brief verbal support by Obama in favor of payment, points to the degree -- or lack thereof -- to which the action contains the possibility of extending beyond the contained conflict. These personalities keep the emphasis on acceptable discourse by political actors and away from all the possibilities the workers hold. Their presence already brings with it obligations and responsibilities counterpoised to the desire of the workers to maintain the occupation under all circumstances until their demands are met. While the degree of conflict is currently minimal, a protracted struggle will only increase the political demand for compromise and restraint.

The limited demands made by the workers so far do not suggest a desire to exacerbate conflict. Some folks who have been to the factory report mention of discussions about restarting productions, but it's impossible at this point to decipher the extent to which those conversations are occurring. There's also been a couple mentions of the same in some reports from Leftist press, but the veracity of those are even more impossible to ascertain. Nor have the workers begun looting or destroying machines and office materials -- from the lobby one can see a plethora of untouched computers and fax machines ripe for the taking. The struggle is still fresh and new -- but at what point will material need outweigh image and respectability?

An interesting development that hasn't been too widely publicized yet is that the owners do seem to be moving the operation into another state. According to an investigation in this article by the Trib:

People who apparently have ties to the financially strapped Republic Windows formed a limited liability corporation in Illinois last month, Echo Windows & Doors, that has bought a similar plant in western Iowa.

Sharon Gillman, who shares an address with Republic President and CEO Rich Gillman, is listed as an officer of Echo Windows & Doors LLC, which was incorporated in Illinois on Nov. 18, according to secretary of state records.

How interesting.

The article says Echo recently purchased a pre-existing factory in Iowa; the address is 2400 N. Broadway, Red Oak, Iowa.

Unfortunately, capitalist law and logic make it pretty clear that it's the factory owner and not the bank that is responsible for paying the debt to the workers. But, if the owners close their company their pockets are technically empty. UE's putting pressure on Bank of America could have implications beyond simply paying owed wages and opens the door to struggle that can place the blame on the economic system itself.

The action does/will have implications for anarchists, but I think so far they are not the ones that folks have been bandying around. One message someone from the Four Star collective sent out suggests anarchists need to be more "structurally organized":

For us anarchists, this turn of events points to the serious need to become structurally organized, and that by working so decentralized from one another and other organizations, we were ineffectively unable to come out in a serious and cohesive body of support. Being a factory occupation, this is a moment in which anarchist politics are most important.

In fact, what's personally been so inspiring for me on 'our' end of things is that anarchist support developed extremely rapidly -- especially because of individual initiative and autonomy. Several delegations have brought food and other supplies to the factory, and news is being spread extremely quickly and widely. FNBs are organizing more food support, a movie showing is being set up, and a rapid-response phone tree is coming together.

At this point, what more could a formal organization do besides co-opt the struggle, like all the Leftist paper sellers flocking the site "like flies to honey"? Are we supposed to print copies of Rocker's Anarcho-Syndicalism to pass out to educate the workers? I'm sure they have enough shitty newspapers to read.

Certainly, anarchists can develop relationships, beyond slogans and press releases, to provide unqualified support for worker autonomy -- to ensure that if workers decide on the need to escalate their occupation or resist efforts by the law, political hacks and opportunists cannot strangle it. But there needs to be a clear delineation between supporting and spreading the struggle -- creating autonomous though complimentary situations -- and hijacking their action from outside

The negotiation between the bank, owners and union is set to begin in about an hour, so we'll see how that goes. Perhaps the action will lead to a quick settlement, and all these talks of preparations are unnecessary. The action seems to have sparked something nonetheless -- will victory here end the cries for worker power?

Success could inspire similar actions by those who find themselves in similar situations -- but it would also set a dangerous precedent for creditors like BofA who refuse to be held responsible for the debts of others. The failure to reach an agreement could lead to a protracted campaign, and from the looks of things I think the Left and others are ready for a fight.

Chicago window workers occupy factory

I won't be on the web to update but here's the source who may be updating more: PilsenProle. I don't know anything about the blog, author or its politics, just wanted to get this up quickly.

The workers of Republic Windows and Doors are right this minute occupying their factory, which was due to close at 10:00 AM this morning. The workers are fighting for pay for their lost vacation days and for the 75 days notice that they are guaranteed under Illinois law. This is the first time in many years workers have taken the bold, militant strategy of occupying their place of work to demand justice. The plan to occupy the plant until they hear the results of the next round of negotiations Monday afternoon. THEY NEED TO KNOW THEY HAVE OUR SUPPORT!!!

A prayer vigil has been planned for 12:00 Noon tomorrow. Please attend. BUT WE SHOULD ORGANIZE A CONSTANT PRESENCE OF COMMUNITY MEMBERS PICKETING OUTSIDE THE FACTORY! BRING FOOD AND COFFEE FOR THE WORKERS. It is our presence and the press that is the workers best defense against the police raiding the factory.

These workers are fighting for all of us!!! As the economic crisis deepens we need to launch a working class fight back. These workers are the starting point and deserve our full support.

Go to…

Republic Windows & Doors
1333 N. Hickory
On Goose Island, near the intersection of Division & Clyborn

Call for more info… (312) 502-7867

Mortgage Crisis Opens Doors for Squatters

López lives in a three-flat in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood. An ex-girlfriend lives on the first floor. She’s the one who invited López to move into the basement space last year. She was a legitimate tenant, but now says she doesn’t know who to pay rent to. No one in the building has paid any rent or utilities since the landlords moved out more than a year ago.

A deed filed with Cook County shows that one of the nation’s largest banks foreclosed on the property months ago. A county court summons also names that bank and alleges 10 building-code violations. The squatters asked us not to report the bank’s name.

from Chicago Public Radio

I heard this on the way to work this morning. This situation apparently has repeated itself throughout the city -- disappearing landlords leaving the buildings with tenants and questionable status. It's much easier and less sketchy than breaking into an abandoned home. If this is a common occurrence in certain neighborhoods, perhaps a squatter and support network could be developed to ensure that if steps are taken by absentee landlords to claim property, an organized effort could resist evictions and make tenant claims to land and homes something more permanent.

Police: Bad economy may breed crime

It's too early to tell if the economy is a major factor in Chicago's rising crime, officials say, but already one police unit is focusing on areas hit hardest by the financial meltdown.

"Abandoned buildings breed crime," police spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

Officers in the Troubled Buildings Unit have been identifying abandoned properties, patrolling them to keep gangs, vandals and other criminals out and getting the city involved in dealing with the owners, Bond said.

"All cities will be faced with some crimes of opportunity as a result of a downtrodden economy, and we are addressing them," Bond said, adding that police don't know yet how much of a role the meltdown is playing.

Bank robberies peaked in '06

Citywide, crime was up 3 percent this year through October, compared to the same period of 2007. Murder rose 16 percent, robbery 9 percent, burglary 5 percent and theft 3 percent.

Retailers have reported a jump in shoplifting.

"Purses and laptops are getting stolen, too," said a major retail center's security chief. "People are desperate."

But FBI spokeswoman Cynthia Yates said she didn't see a correlation between bank robberies and the economy. She pointed out that Chicago area bank heists hit a peak in 2006, when the economy was considered healthy. Holdups have risen as bank locations expanded, she said.

In New York, property crime has actually dropped this year. Burglary fell 6 percent and grand larceny 2 percent through Sunday, compared with the same period of 2007.

Murders are up 6 percent.

from Sun-Times

Eviction resistance in Boston

Although the intention of the postings on this blog will be focused on Chicago experiences, it is essential to learn from the experiences of others elsewhere dealing with the same problems. In this article from Boston, for instance, we find that chaining a few folks to a building on eviction day does not itself prevent eviction or seriously hamper their effort to evict.

However, it would of course be unfair to assume this is the entire strategy. In fact, CL/VU can at least claim success in contributing to the momentum of preventing one eviction last April as they had threatened at the beginning of the year to physically block evictions whenever possible. The trick, of course, seems to be in encouraging enough eviction resistance so that the one hour hold up at a single site accumulates into an unmanageable waste of police resources across the city.

The results appear to be a matter of circumstances -- on the one hand, the resident in eviction that went ahead was apparently the owner of the condo and was indebted directly to the bank. In the case of the halted eviction, it was a matter of the scummy landlord giving the renters the claim of being good tenants. It's exciting the CL/VU went ahead and took on both, although the legal claims of one were more dubious. This points to an attempt to deconstruct the logic of the social order that only "good" residents deserve to stay in their homes.

About 50 people, activists from the Jamaica Plain based organization City Life/Vida Urbana, and their supporters, gathered in front of 76 Perrin Street in Roxbury today, to try and block police from evicting one of the building's residents, Paula Taylor, 43.

Six people chained themselves to the front and back entrances of the building. After a standoff that lasted more than an hour, Boston police from the area B-2 precinct and officers with Boston Special Operations, finally cut the protester's chains and arrested four of the six activists. Shortly thereafter, workers with a moving and storage company began removing Ms. Taylor's belongings and placing them in a truck. She told reporters she was not sure where she would go.

Attorneys with the local chapter of the National Lawyers Guild observed the eviction and arrests. Students and staff from Harvard Law School also were in attendance and several spoke with reporters.

Ms. Taylor's condo was foreclosed upon earlier this year. The mortgage is owned by Bank of America. She said she offered to pay rent to the bank and move out once a qualified buyer for her condo could be found, but she and spokespersons for City Life/Vida Urbana said the bank rejected that offer. The fight for tenants' rights is far from over. City Life and other organizations are stepping up to stop the banks from taking people's homes.

Homes and Freedom

This anonymous letter was read to the CrimethInc. convergence held this summer in July. The reader said it was written by some friends who couldn't attend the convergence but were launching their own project of liberation:

For the past year, we have inhabited an occupied space in conflict with the prevailing logic of capitalism: everything that can be desired is for sale (nothing escapes the realm of the commodity); in order to survive one must exchange commodities for their representation in the form of currency; one's daily experience, the sum of life itself, is nothing more than a good to be sold on the open market. That space and the lives we have come to know and to love are being directly threatened by those who have chosen to base their livelihoods on exploitation, fear, and the destruction of life. We are anarchists, squatters, and gardeners who by asking no leave, no permission to live, have attempted to take directly some of the means necessary for life: the space and time to breathe and recover from the incessant monotony of school, work, rent, and the supermarket; the thought and energy to mount an attack against all that which is killing us piecemeal.

Unfortunately, nowhere do the authors even hint at where they reside, and so "Midwest" could mean anywhere from Kansas to Ohio. But they acknowledge the fragility of their situation and ask for folks to keep an ear to the ground in the event of future trouble that may be heading their way. They explicitly state their goal is not merely another place to live but a place worth living:

Our project is the destruction of the current social order and the creation of lives truly worth living. Squatting is one means of many we choose to further this endeavor. We have never been interested in finding yet another way to merely survive. Our interest lies in the generation of conflict and combustion capable of skyrocketing us out of this mess.

The creation of a confrontational squat is a relatively new and rare occurrence for the United States, at least outside of New York City. As mentioned earlier, the social situation is opening up space for the reclamation of unused housing. A well-planned and well-defended squat could be not worth the authorities' efforts to evict -- especially when it would mean just one more derelict building on a block of foreclosed homes.

Also interesting is the squatter's ignoring (and by implication, rejection) of using the squat as just another way to leverage city officials for a new homeless shelter or other concessions. Squatting contains the possibility of removing the "housing advocates" or activists that mediate between government and its subjects. The squat contains both the petition and the demand itself, eliminating both the desire for and the possibility of compromise on the part of the rebels.

The Vancouver Woodward Squat will likely be cited numerous times in the discussion on insurrectionary housing; some of the anarchist squatters have provided numerous texts and analysis of the experience. Their piece Squatting or Activist Posturing? looks at attempts to accelerate the Woodward Squat from a 10-day plea for social housing into a permanent, self-managed squat for homeless folks, free of external control, and how "anti-poverty" activists stifled momentum.

Bending the rules til they break

It's no longer hyperbolic or romantic extremism to say that the economy is undergoing massive crisis, and this is leading to changes will upset the status quo in unpredictable ways. Crisis is a demonstration that the authorities do not, in fact, have everything under control. The period of crisis itself is marked both by the underlying problem itself and the attempts of the authorities to re-assert their control over the many cracks that emerge.

Some -- I'll take the opportunity to make a cheap shot at "the Left" -- have already yielded the ground to the state. Argument over the bailout or particular budget cuts are not an assault upon the capitalist system. Rather they point to a desire for a return to normalcy. At the risk of sounding cliche it is insisting to play by the rules of the game even when the rules no longer apply.

Leftists want management and stability; anarchists want autonomy. Left parties continue doing what they normally do in times of crisis because they don't know what else to do, nor do they really want anything else to do. Recruit; "organize"; preach. Anarchists would do well to approach the situation by looking at strategic weaknesses and capitalizing on them while the window is open.

For example, tightening local budgets will mean reductions in police forces:

"I think it's going to mean less police visibility ultimately in the community, and we're going to need a lot of community cooperation to keep the crime rate as low as it's been," he said.

What points towards rupture and unpredictability is that the situation ahead is a coupling of both police under-staffing and an increased need for individuals to participate in property crimes:

"I have been in this business for a long time, and I have experienced cutbacks in the past. Those, however, were done through attrition. I have never experienced the cuts that we are anticipating next year when we anticipate the very real probability of layoffs occurring in our community," he said.

There stand a real possibility that the rules will be changing. In fact the rules have changed, albeit temporarily, such as when the Cook County Sheriff declared a brief hiatus on evictions, throwing absentee landlords and bankers into a fit. The decision was criticized as being selective enforcement of laws, but what it showed was that mass refusal (in this case, of paying rent) can lead to the suspension of reality -- not by convincing the authorities but by making enforcement materially unfeasible ("the deputies were doing the work of notifying tenants that their buildings were in foreclosure, a procedure that Dart said should have fallen on banks, and was costing the taxpayers money"). That the sheriff made the decision and later reneged speaks to the relative class power of those being evicted. It is times like these that offer opportunity to upset that balance of power.

Anarchist intervention can emerge at points where folks understand the need to survive trumps obedience to social norms and laws. The police admit that "When people are hungry, they need to feed their families somehow... Not all those ways are always legal." It's sick and cruel that the officer would take such a callous stance, willing to enforce the law over or against human need. But anarchist practice with petty criminality is a skill that can be offered to others. If criminality is spreading on its own, anarchists can insert themselves to make the push from criminality towards rebellion. Widespread and confrontational squatting, for instance, could be one method of taking advantage of the inability of the authorities to enforce their own laws.

Even Alan Greenspan admits the situation before us is a "once in a century credit tsunami." Particularly interesting is that the authorities haven't entirely figured out what went wrong or how to fix it. While they scramble to reassert order, we should strike.

It is likely that the current financial crisis will yield to the efforts of international governments. But the cracks that emerge offer anarchists space to plant long lasting seeds of revolt capable of moving in the direction of total rebellion.

Threatening letters mailed to banks

At least a dozen more suspicious letters turned up Wednesday at financial institutions nationwide, but all appear to be harmless, the FBI said.

Authorities said nearly 50 letters in all, some filled with white powder, have been sent to Chase Bank branches and federal regulatory offices in 11 cities: Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, Denver, Newark, N.J., New York City, Okalhoma City, Phoenix, San Francisco and Washington.

So far, the letters have tested negative for poisonous or otherwise dangerous toxins, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said in Washington.

An FBI spokesman in Oklahoma, where eight letters turned up, said local preliminary assessments showed the powder was harmless calcium.

The letters first began surfacing Monday, forcing some bank branches to close. No injuries were reported, but some Chase employees, including a pregnant woman, were examined as a precaution. Chase branches around the country "are on alert," said JPMorgan Chase spokesman Greg Hassell.

Authorities said the letters appear to be from the same source, and were focusing on possible suspects near Amarillo, Texas, where the envelopes were postmarked.

The incident was being investigated as a first, if extreme, public backlash over the nation's financial crisis.

from the Trib