Two DAs
On opposite coasts. Except that neither is on either coast.
Albany, NY:
Judge Thomas Keefe dismissed the trespassing and disorderly conduct charges -- both noncriminal violations -- Monday after District Attorney David Soares' office notified the court it would again decline to prosecute the offenses...
Soares has refused to prosecute nonviolent protesters who are exercising their First Amendment rights without damaging property or injuring police -- a stance he reiterated last week when Occupy Albany prepared to return to the downtown parks in force for the first time since December.
Davis, CA:
The administration of UC Davis is holding poet and professor Joshua Clover and 11 students accountable for their alleged role in protests that led to the shutdown of a campus US Bank. "District Attorney Jeff Reisig is charging campus protesters with 20 counts each of obstructing movement in a public place, and one count of conspiracy. If convicted, the protesters could face up to 11 years each in prison, and $1 million in damages."
District Attorney Reisig, just like his counterpart
twenty five hundred and one miles away, could drop these charges, and should using the same rationale. Yolo county may not be a hotbed of crime, but surely he has better things to do than to support a UC administration that has been ripped to shreds for its role in perpetrating violence against students.
Two Chancellors
UC Davis Chancellor Katehi's counterpart in crime, UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau,
finally all but told the Alameda County District Attorney that the University did not wish charges pursued against students who were arrested last November. Lo and behold, days later,
many of the charges were dropped.
If Katehi, whose role in the UC Davis pepper-spray has been excoriated by independent investigations, had any sense whatsoever she would do the same for the bank blockaders. Do not hold your breath though. Katehi seems incapable of any actions, even sensible ones.
You can help support the Banker's Dozen.
One Farm. Albany, CA.
Two days ago, I reported that UC Berkeley had given Occupy the Farm peeps an ultimatum: leave, "or else." But no farmer would leave their crops to the mercies of a bunch of city folk, and indeed the occupier-agriculturalists have not left. Instead, they have penned a response the UC Berkeley's demand, in the form of their own proposal.
The Gill Tract Farmers Collective looks forward to addressing our mutual concerns around the unimpeded work of the Gill Tract researchers. We understand that the nature of the genetic research necessitates extra precautions for the security of those experiments.
When the University presents a concrete proposal that satisfies the following concerns we will break up the camp so that the researchers have access to their plots:
That municipal water at the Gill Tract be made available to us.
That the Farmer's Collective and larger community have access to the field in order that we may:
a. Tend to the crops we have planted on the East side of the field.
b. Maintain the Children's garden in the northwest corner of the tract, as well as the BASIL seed bank homecoming site on the edge of the west field.
3. That in order to protect the organic food crops, the long-term health of the soil, the beehive, as well as the neighbors, including children and families, the researchers/the University refrain from the use of chemical herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, chemical fertilizer or plastic tarp in the soil on the farm.
We continue to be willing to facilitate this transition process for the researchers, such as the construction of new fences or gates that would allow for our access to the locations referenced in Condition 2, so long as these conditions are met.
We look forward to further discussion around how to make this a truly collaborative process for all stakeholders in the Gill Tract. This includes not only the Albany community, the Gill Tract Farmer's Collective, and UC Berkeley, but also the residents of the greater East Bay. Because of its unique location in a thriving urban area, any future use of the Gill Tract has an immediate impact on East Bay food sovereignty, equity, and access issues. We hope that more consideration for the time that is necessary to facilitate an open community dialogue is respected and that the UC ceases to levy ultimatums such as the one issued on Friday, May 4th, 2012.
In my estimation, this is a perfectly reasonable proposal. I am surprised at how mellow it is.
UC Berkeley can choose to ignore it and send in the police. But such an action coming on the heels of a report commissioned by the head of the UC system recommending police action only as a last resort, and suggesting respect for civil disobedience, would not seem to play well. The University cannot make the claim, as did the City of Oakland against its Occupiers, that there was no one to negotiate with nor a list of demands.
Instead, UC Berkeley can, for once in its existence, negotiate in good faith over this tract of land, and be praised for allowing crops to grow and ripen, and for avoiding potential violence.
I still expect the cops.
Mon May 07, 2012 at 10:44 PM PT: Occupy The Farm website