Poster of the Week

CSPG’s Poster of the Week celebrates a Victory Against Repression: 
 All Felony Charges against Carlos Montes Dropped 

Carlos Montes is a nationally respected leader in the Chicano, immigrant rights, and antiwar movements. He was a co-founder of the Brown Berets, a Chicano working class youth organization in the late 1960s and 1970s. The Brown Berets were inspired by and often compared to the Black Panther Party. Montes was one of the leaders of the Chicano Blowouts, a series of 1968 walkouts of East Los Angeles high schools to protest racism and inequality in Los Angeles-area high schools. He is portrayed by Fidel Gomez in the 2006 HBO movie Walkout.

With the 2003 Bush administration war and occupation of Iraq, Montes helped form and lead L.A. Latinos Against War. Montes helped organize protests against the September 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN.

In December 2008, Montes was a founding member of the Southern California Immigration Coalition, to fight against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and police repression; and organize the yearly May 1 marches and rallies to demand full legalization. He is also currently active in the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, and has been organizing against unnecessary FBI raids which tend to focus on dismantling and preventing activist group activity through intimidation.

On May 17, 2011 Montes was arrested by the combined forces of the LA County Sheriff’s Swat Team and the FBI. With automatic assault rifles drawn, they crashed his door down at 5:00 a.m., almost killing him. His home was ransacked and his computer, cell phones, and hundreds of documents such as photographs, diskettes, and mementos of his current political activity were removed by FBI. He was charged with 6 serious felonies with a possible jail time of up to 18 years.

With local and national support, via solidarity protests, call-in campaigns to President Obama and U.S. Attorney General Holder, local rallies and protests, and an offensive legal strategy , two felonies were dropped - this was a first partial victory. However the District Attorney still stated that they wanted Montes to do at least 5 years in state prison for the 4 felony charges remaining.

The local and national Committees Against FBI Repression launched a petition drive and a “Call the D.A.” campaign, with phone banking and a robo call by Montes to over 4 000 supporters, urging folks to call District Attorney Steve Cooley. The D.A.’s office was flooded with calls and letters.

Montes’ attorney made several motions to get charges dropped on various grounds, but the Los Angeles Superior Court judge rejected them. Preparations were made for a trial, knowing well the state judicial system is not ‘fair and impartial.’ Montes and his attorney Jorge Gonzalez got widespread support and media coverage including in the Democracy Now TV show, La Opinion and the Guardian UK newspaper.

The local D.A. on the case then sought for a resolution and proposed to drop three additional felonies, if Montes pled out to one count of perjury. This proposal included no jail time, three years of probation and community service. Under advice from supporters, friends and his attorney Montes moved forward with this proposal.

This is a victory for Carlos Montes and the movement against police political repression. A trial had the danger of him being convicted of four felonies with jail time and the additional old felony - a total of 5 felonies. At this point Montes is out of jail, will continue to organize against repression, for public education, against U.S.-led wars and for immigrant rights. He is already planning to attend the protest at the Republican National Convention on August 27, 2012 in Tampa, Florida.

Sources:
www.stopfbi.net  (Los Angeles Committee to Stop FBI Repression) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Montes

Poster of the Week

9809

Frontieres = Repression

[Borders = Repression]

Atelier Populaire

Silkscreen

Paris, 1968

It’s May.  There’s an unpopular war raging on the other side of the world.  Students are protesting and the police respond with violence.  There is high unemployment, growing poverty and immigrants are frequent targets of workers’ frustration.   It could be the U.S. in 2012, but it is Paris 1968.


In May 1968, 11 million workers went on strike throughout France. It was the largest general strike ever, and brought the economy of France to a virtual standstill.  It grew out of pent-up anger and frustration over poverty, unemployment and the conservative government of Charles de Gaulle.


The mass movement for social change began with a series of student protests and strikes that broke out at a number of universities in Paris, following confrontations with university administrators and the police. The de Gaulle administration attempted to quell those strikes by force, but the brutality of the police only inflamed the situation further.  The demonstrations soon spread into factories and resulted in an unprecedented general strike. More than 22% of the total population of France participated in the strike which went for two weeks, and almost caused the collapse of the government of President Charles de Gaulle.


The faculty and student body of the Ecole des Beaux Arts, were on strike, and a number of students met spontaneously in the lithographic department to produce the first poster of the strike. On May 16th, art students, painters from outside the university and striking workers decided to permanently occupy the art school in order to produce posters that would, "Give concrete support to the great movement of the workers on strike who are occupying their factories in defiance of the Gaullist government." The posters of the ATELIER POPULAIRE were designed and printed anonymously and were distributed for free. They were seen on the barricades, carried in demonstrations and were plastered on walls all over France. Their bold and provocative messages were extremely influential and still resonate in our own time.   CSPG’s Poster of the Week was produced during this movement, and focuses on immigrant rights.


Statement by the ATELIER POPULAIRE

"The posters produced by the ATELIER POPULAIRE are weapons in the service of the struggle and are an inseparable part of it. Their rightful place is in the centers of conflict, that is to say, in the streets and on the walls of the factories. To use them for decorative purposes, to display them in bourgeois places of culture or to consider them as objects of aesthetic interest is to impair both their function and their effect. This is why the ATELIER POPULAIRE has always refused to put them on sale. Even to keep them as historical evidence of a certain stage in the struggle is a betrayal, for the struggle itself is of such primary importance that the position of an "outside" observer is a fiction which inevitably plays into the hands of the ruling class. That is why these works should not be taken as the final outcome of an experience, but as an inducement for finding, through contact with the masses, new levels of action, both on the cultural and the political plane."

Sources:  recollectionbooks.com/bleed/images/France68/paris.htm

Johan Kugelberg, editor and Philippe Vermes, Beauty is in the Street, A visual Record of the May’68 Paris Uprising, Four Corner Books, London, 2011.

Poster of the Week

May 1st, 2012 A Day Without the 99% 

No Work – No School – No Housework – No Shopping 

 Take the Streets on Tuesday! 

CSPG’s Poster of the Week Celebrates May Day and supports the 2012 General Strike organized by the Occupy Movement.

Eric Drooker
Occupy May Day 
Digital Image
2012

The celebration of May Day as a labor holiday marked by parades and red flags began on May 1, 1886. Behind the campaign was the universal adoption of the 8-hour working day, an improvement on the recent fight for a ten-hour day. In Chicago, the center of the movement, workers had been agitating for an 8-hour day for months, and on the eve of May 1, 50,000 were already on strike. 30,000 more swelled their ranks the next day, bringing most of Chicago manufacturing to a standstill. In a notorious riot that followed (the Haymarket massacre) the 8-hour movement failed, but the Chicago events figured prominently in the founding congress of the Second International (Paris, 1889) to make May 1, 1890 a demonstration of the solidarity and power of the international working class movement. Ever since, May Day has been celebrated globally as the international workers’ holiday.

For May Day 2012, Occupy is organizing the first truly nationwide General Strike in U.S. history. Building on the international celebration of May Day, past General Strikes in U.S. cities like Seattle and Oakland, the recent May 1st Day Without An Immigrant demonstrations, the national general strikes in Spain this year, and the on-going student strike in Quebec, the Occupy Movement has called for A Day Without the 99% on May 1st, 2012. This in and of itself is a tremendous victory. For the first time, workers, students, immigrants, and the unemployed from 135 U.S. cities will stand together for economic justice. 

To find events in your city: 
http://occupywallst.org/article/may-day/

http://www.occupymay1st.org/2012/04/21/nationwide-general-strike/

CSPG’s Poster of the Week is dedicated to Pete Jimenez, who died of AIDS last week at age 48. Pete was an amazing person who was fearless, funny, outspoken, gutsy, dedicated and committed. He was the quintessential activist, focusing on AIDS, anti-war, homophobia, universal healthcare, and militarism.

Over 300,000 U.S. AIDS Deaths
Jeff Schuerholz; ACT UP/LA
Photocopy, 1996
Los Angeles, California
33193

This poster was created for a demonstration on February 6th, 1996 in front of Chasen’s Restaurant, West Hollywood, where Ronald Reagan's 85th birthday/fund-raiser was being celebrated.

"We went there to spoil their party, the way they've spoiled our lives,"
said ACT UP Los Angeles member Pete Jimenez.

This was a very dramatic demonstration. Ronald Reagan did not attend the event for health reasons. 300 demonstrators banged drums, blew whistles shouted through bullhorns and created a very loud and boisterous disturbance about genocidal Republican AIDS policy. As Newt Gingrich, California governor Pete Wilson, Colin Powell, other Republican leaders and celebrities arrived, they were greeted with signs reading "You killed all my friends" and shouts of "Money for AIDS, not for dining!" Many demonstrators carried signs with a picture of Ronald Reagan and caption; "Over 300,000 US AIDS deaths - SHAME!" Several times the demonstrators surged toward the entrance of the restaurant only to be held back by the West Hollywood Sheriffs.

During his presidency, Reagan ignored his own Surgeon General and public health advisors, and allowed HIV/AIDS to spread unchecked with no concern for the mounting death toll.

The demonstration was organized by ACT UP/LA (the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power). Other participating groups included ACT UP/Ventura, WAC (Women's Action Coalition) Being Alive: People with HIV/AIDS Action Coalition, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and students from UCLA and LA High School for the Arts. Also Radical Fairies, The City AIDS Coordinators office of Los Angeles, members of the West Hollywood City council, some AIDS doctors, and scores of people with AIDS and their supporters.

This photo of Pete and Angela Davis was taken November 6, 2011, when Angela received CSPG’s Historian of the Lion’s Award.

To see a 2010 interview with Pete Jimenez and Jeff Schuerholz, President of CSPG’s Board, and Pete’s partner for more than 20 years, where they discuss this poster and more: http://activistvideoarchive.org/pages/PeteJimenezJeffSchuerholz.html

Two informative and moving obituaries:

http://lgbtpov.frontiersla.com/2012/04/15/his-one-queer-voice-pete-jimenez-february-12-1964-april-13-2012/

http://lgbtpov.frontiersla.com/2012/04/14/act-upla-protester-pete-jimenez-dies-at-48/

Posters of the Week

One Million Hoodie March

Artist Unknown,

Digital, 2012

New York, New York

Still Waiting for Justice

Hunter Langston

Digital 2012

Detroit, Michigan

On the 44^th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., April 4, 1968, CSPG’s Posters of the Week commemorate the tragic death of Trayvon Martin, 17.

The story is now well-known: On February 26, 2012, Trayvon was shot to death in Sanford, Florida, by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain, who stalked and then fatally shot the unarmed youth while Trayvon was returning from a convenience store. That Zimmerman was not arrested and allowed to keep his gun continues to fuel the national outrage.

But initially, the case received little press attention, and for the first 10 days after Trayvon's death, the story was only covered by the Florida media. Not until March 8, 2012, did the national media begin covering the case. And much of the subsequent attention is thanks to grassroots efforts.

On March 17, Maria Roach, Maryland resident and mother, began circulating a petition through MoveOn.org, demanding justice for Trayvon Martin. Nine days later, she delivered more than 500,000 signatures to the Department of Justice in Washington. If you want to add your signature: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=272971&id=37516-3264124-0OR8AXx&t=2

The case continues to polarize the nation, and demonstrations demanding justice for Trayvon, and the arrest and trial of George Zimmerman, have taken place throughout the U.S., including Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Indianapolis and New York. Many demonstrators wear “hoodies” to protest the stereotyping and racial profiling that led to this tragedy.

The two posters included here are very different, but both are inspired by the same tragic event. The first, done anonymously, has helped mobilize demonstrations around the country. The second, by Hunter Langston, a professional graphic designer, places the event in the context of Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law, as well is in the larger national debate around the need for gun control.

Sources:

http://www.santamonicadispatch.com/2012/03/moveon-delivers-petition-signed-by-500000-people-demanding-justice-for-trayvon/

http://moveon.org/SongForTrayvon?id=38007-19980072-qOzVwox&t=2

http://moveonorgnfo.blogspot.com/2012/03/stop-smearing-trayvon-martin.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-your-ground_law

DemocracyNow.org also has numerous articles and interviews regarding Trayvon Martin.

Poster of the Week

Poster of the Week – Commemorating the 25^th Anniversary of ACT UP

Silence=Death

ACT UP/NY, Gran Fury

The Silence = Death Project

Offset, 1987

New York, New York

27399

March 24, 2012 marks 25 years since the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) held its first direct action on Wall Street to demand greater access to HIV treatment. ACT UP was formed by a coalition of activists outraged over the U.S. government’s mismanagement of the AIDS crisis.

ACT UP quickly became a national and world-wide movement, with one of its most effective chapters in Los Angeles. ACT UP/LA stopped the Rose Parade. They shouted down elected officials. They negotiated the building of an AIDS Ward in a public health system that left people with AIDS suffering in hallways due to lack of a dedicated place for them.

25 Years ago, ACT UP shut down Wall Street. To commemorate their original action on the world's financial center, ACT UP will stage an action, in cooperation with Occupy Wall Street, on Wednesday, April 25. “ACT UP + Occupy To End The AIDS Crisis” will demand a “Robin Hood” tax on financial transactions to increase HIV/AIDS funding.

CSPG’s Poster of the Week was designed by ACT UP/NY, Gran Fury, and The Silence = Death Project. Gran Fury was a collective of AIDS activists, born out of ACT UP/NY, who provoked direct action to end the AIDS crisis. They chose the name 'Gran Fury' after the brand of Plymouth automobile used as a squad car by the New York City police department. They manipulated sophisticated advertising strategies in print and video to render complex issues understandable, and to reach an audience not often addressed by governmental and corporate media. They also retaliated against government and social institutions that made those living with AIDS invisible.

The pink triangle was established as a pro-gay symbol by activists in the United States during the 1970s. Its use originated in World War II, when known homosexuals in Nazi concentration camps were forced to wear inverted pink triangle badges as identifiers, much in the same manner that Jews were forced to wear the yellow Star of David. Wearers of the pink triangle were considered at the bottom of the camp social system and subjected to particularly severe maltreatment and degradation. Thus, the appropriation of the symbol of the pink triangle, usually turned upright rather than inverted, was a conscious attempt to transform a symbol of humiliation into one of solidarity and resistance. By the outset of the AIDS epidemic, it was well-entrenched as a symbol of gay pride and liberation.

Sources:

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/3/23/how_to_survive_a_plague_as

http://www.aidsmeds.com/articles/anniversary_hiv_actup_1667_22130.shtml

https://www.facebook.com/events/208718522568785/

http://www.drkrm.com/actup.html

Poster of the Week

Stop LAPD Spying!

Jacinto De La Paz

2011 updated Feb. 2012

Special Order 1 authorizes LAPD officers to gather street-level intelligence and information, based upon what is termed “observed behavior.” These behaviors include such everyday activities as drawing diagrams, or taking notes, pictures or video footage, using cameras or binoculars. SO 1 solidifies and enables a system that normalizes racial profiling and places the brunt of these repressive policies on immigrants, students, social justice and political activists, poor folks and communities of color. It is important to realize that SO 11’s fundamental premise is that each and every person is a potential suspect.

COMMUNITY TOWNHALL MEETING

Immigrants, Youth, Formerly Incarcerated People, and Other Concerned Communities Join Forces to Stop Civil Rights Abuses Authorized in LAPD “Special Order 1”

Learn about the campaign to rescind LAPD’s Special Order 1 (formerly Special Order 11), a policy directive that infringes on privacy and civil liberties, promotes racial profiling and legitimizes spying by law enforcement.

JOIN US! GET INVOLVED!!

Saturday March 3rd, 2012 at 10:30 AM

828 W. Washington Bl., Los Angeles, CA 90015

(SEIU USWW Union hall)

For further information please call Hamid Khan at 562-230-4578 or email at hamidk@cangress.org

http://www.facebook.com/events/318021458235905

www.stoplapdspying.org