I'll be honest, as an until recently and soon to be again resident of Oakland I don't want to encourage too many people to move there, mainly because I have serious worries about gentrification. But what really gets me is the fact that the city officials want to pretend like Occupy Oakland and the anarchists who are involved are scaring people off from moving to the city, when the San Francisco Bay Guardian conveniently says otherwise. Yes indeed, the last of the independent weeklies is worried about Oakland becoming the new place to be. If you think the anarchists in Oakland have nothing to do with the music scene then you need a refresher on how music works. And let me tell you, it isn't just the SF Guardian.
I'm not going to mince words here: People want to be where shit's popping off. People around the country and around the world know Oakland and they know it because we've been resisting. If I end up in Europe, or elsewhere, I will be damn proud to tell people I'm coming from Oakland. Not because we have a shitty city government or a brutal police department, but because everyone knows that Oakland will resist. Oakland will keep this shit real. Oakland will have a banging fucking music scene without asking permission.(and those pics are from the warehouse I just moved out of)
I tell you what Oakland knows. Oakland knows about cross race solidarity.
Oakland knows about General Strikes.
Oakland also knows about foreclosure defense.
Oakland also knows about art.
Oakland also knows about health for the people.
Bet you didn't expect that one.
Please don't assume that radical politics in Oakland started and stopped with threats of violence, because that's just one little tiny part of what happens here.
Oakland is not it's politicians.
P.S. FUCK OPD!