Saturday, August 30, 2008

State Terror Leading Up to RNC


The Drexel PLG unequivocally condemns the preemptive police raids that began Friday night at the RNC Welcoming Committee's convergence space. At 9:15pm on Friday night, the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department along with the St. Paul police burst through the doors of the convergence space with guns drawn while around 50 activists, including children and the elderly, shared food and watched a movie. All individuals were ordered to lay face down on the floor and were all summarily handcuffed while Minnesota's terror agents executed a search warrant that they said they had but did not show. Activists were then detained, photographed, and after their personal information was recorded, released. Personal computers, hard drives, protest literature and other items were confiscated. The fact that not one single person was arrested attests to the desperate use of scare tactics employed by the police to try and disrupt scheduled protests set for the beginning of next week's convention.

But, that was only the beginning. Starting early Saturday morning, activists' homes all over Minneapolis were raided, once again, in a attempt to intimidate protestors and stifle dissent. Twin Cities Indymedia is doing a good job of posting breaking news as it unfolds. Videos from many of the raids as well as a map showing where the raids are taking place can be found here.

These examples of draconian State power come only 2 days after the Berkeley police and officers from 2 other agencies raided the Long Haul Infoshop in Berkeley, CA. The police broke down doors and confiscated all computers saying "they may have been used to commit a felony." The officers refused to show a warrant until after they were finished ransacking the building.

These preemptive acts of aggression and violence by State forces must be resisted, opposed, and emphatically condemned by every individual who recognizes the right to dissent and protest as not only legitimate, but imperative, when those in power seek to oppress those who oppose them.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Project 360

I'm excited that our first post concerns Project 360, a relatively new project adopted by the Drexel PLG.

Background Information

Volunteering at Books Through Bars one night, Prather and I met Molly Russakoff, a single mother of two, who had run Molly's Bookstore in South Philadelphia for 8 years. But, due to the shifting nature of the retail book industry, she was being forced to close her store and to contemplate a new future for the space where she and her family worked and lived.

Her idea was to establish an alternative learning center for disaffected Philadelphia teens frustrated with the less-than-optimal learning/social milieu of Philadelphia public schools. In a city where barely 50% of students graduate from high school and where violence in the school system seems endemic, children and teenagers require and deserve a more nurturing, creative, and self-empowering environment to foster their skills, ideas and dreams. Project 360 carries on the tradition of homeschooling, unschooling -- a term attributed to John Holt and practiced most famously by Grace Llewellyn through her Not Back to School Camp -- and self-directed learning centers such as North Star.

But more than just an alternative learning center, Project 360 will also be home to a new infoshop and community space that will consist of radical publications, a 'zine library, and a host of events ranging from vegan potluck dinners to movie screenings to workshops and social gatherings.

The Role of the PLG

As future (radical) librarians, archivists and information professionals, the members of the PLG support the critical analyzation of existing hierarchical institutions that stifle the innate creativity, cooperation, and liberty that every individual strives to express unfettered by coercive authority figures and ineffectual standardization tests. Thus far our members have been involved in everything from painting walls and taking apart bookshelves to compiling resources for a resource guide that will be used to help parents and teens make informed decisions regarding their self-directed learning. We will also be working alongside Molly and other participants in the acquisition of resources and in helping to establish information hubs within the center. We will be posting periodic updates on Project 360 and community events at the space.

Items still needed:
a projection screen, furniture (couches, chairs, etc.) that is in good condition, a mini-refrigerator, microwave, etc. Please contact us if you have any of these items to donate

Film to watch: Jean Vigo's Zero de Conduite (this film will be screened at Project 360 in the very near future)