Down with Gaddafi!

In a repeat of last weekend's rally, Seattle residents gathered downtown to demonstrate their support for the pro-democracy protests taking place in Libya.

Photo's via flickr:

March to Stop Raids and Deportations / 02-25-2011

Demonstrators gathered Friday to protest SB 5407, a law workings its way through the Washington State Senate requiring proof of citizenship prior to the issuance of a Driver's license, and recent raids by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Ellensburg, Wa.  SB 5407 would effectively make it impossible for undocumented workers to obtain Driver's licenses and auto insurance in Washington State.  Another proposed piece of legislation, HB 1272, would require state employment agencies to verify that workers are qualified to work in the United State prior to referring them to potential employers. While these proposed laws don't rise to the level of the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act (SB 1070) signed into law last April in Arizona, they would contribute to making every day life more difficult for Washington's immigrant communities.

Like most groups that argue from the pro-immigration side of this debate, the activists that gathered friday ignore an essential fact: individuals subject to detention to ICE and deportation are in the United States illegally.  What these activists label "attacks against immigrant communities" are, in fact, lawful arrests.  Given the Republican sweep of the 2010 elections, immigration policy at both the state and federal level is headed towards more, not less, restrictive legislation. While it may be true that Latinos are the fastest growing demographic in Washington, what percentage of this population is in the state illegally? If you're not a citizen and can't vote, you don't represent a political constituency attractive to legislators.  Unless U.S. immigration policy gets in sync with the economic necessity of immigrant labor, through amnesty or guest workers program, Latino workers will continue to face the cost / benefit decisions that come with choosing to work in the U.S. illegally.  Until the U.S. decides to adopt a less schizophrenic attitude on immigration, the risk of deportation is not going away.

Pamphlets

Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Wheat Paste Goodness

Shepard Fairey style street art posted around Alaska Junction in West Seattle:

Please drop me a line if you can identify the artist.

Render unto Caesar

References to God and debt keep springing up among the evangelical preachers and pamphleteers. Here's a few examples:

Paid in Full

All About the Benjamins

$1 Million

While this isn't surprising, sixteen of thirty-eight parables in the New Testament deal either literally with the subject of money or evoke money as a symbol, it seems less apt in today's cultural and economic climate. The street preachers often speak of humankind's debt to Jesus / God for the gift of salvation. The millions of people who have recently lost this homes or jobs and are dealing with real world debt cannot find this message all that attractive. It feeds into the escapism that's inherent in Christian theology.  Yes, you're poor and miserable, but that doesn't really matter because someday you'll get to die and than everything will be ever-so-much better.

At least this message is consistent with canonical theology -- as opposed to the prosperity theology put forth by many contemporary televangelists. " I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" would seem to contradict the notion that "God wants us to prosper financially, to have plenty of money, to fulfill the destiny He has laid out for us." If Joel Olsteen ran into Jesus on the street, he'd probably mistake him for a hobo.

Pro-Libyan Democracy Rally, 02-19

 

I headed downtown this afternoon expecting a rally in support of Wiki-leaks and Julian Assange.  At the appointed time, I found Westlake Center empty of protesters -- which is something of a rare sight on a Saturday afternoon.  Fortunately, a group approximately 30 Pro-Libyan democracy activists stepped up to fill the gap later in the afternoon.  I'm guessing this was an unscheduled or non-permitted event, given that the usual Socialist and Anarchist hangers-on were not in attendance.  A protest undiluted by distractions; it's a rare occasion when i find nothing to foster my cynicism.

Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Signal-to-noise

Tensions continue to mount in the streets of Seattle with Wednesday's announcement by King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg that criminal charges will not be charged against SPD officer Ian Birk for the fatal shooting of John T. Williams in August 2010.  Birk subsequently announced his resignation later that afternoon.  While the Native American community has consistently called for solutions to the problems of police brutality from within the system in the aftermath of Williams' death, a variety of voice from the far left have been calling for more racial approaches.  Marches organized on Wednesday (02/16) and Friday (02/18) were composed primarily of Anarchist and Pro-Socialist activists that have co-opted the issue. Friday's march turned violent with police deploying pepper spray after protesters vandalized a squad car.  Unfortunately, this march was scheduled in direct conflict with a more reasoned discussion of the problem hosted at the Chief Seattle Club, with a panel including representatives from the NAACP, ACLU and Seattle City Council.  It's becoming clear that these protesters are more interested in marching, destroying public and private property, and disrupting everyday life than advancing reforms with the Seattle Police Department.

Photos of Wednesday's march via The Stranger. Photos of Friday's march via MyNorthwest.com.

Some pamphlets distributed Friday:

All Cops are Bastards

Justice is Impossible

Fuck the Police

To Protect and Divide

Down with the American criminal injustice system!

Pamphlets from the Chief Seattle Club Forum:

U.S. Department of Justice: Community Relations Service
Know Your Rights!: A People's Council on Social Justice Forum
Respect: Youth Guide to Seattle Laws & Police Procedures

The material being put on by the City and Federal agencies in connection with the Williams shooting remains both non-specific to the problems at hand and tone deaf.  Calling for mutual respect between police and the public, given SPD's well-publicized instances of excessive force, isn't going to win any hearts or minds. 

Harry Potter made me do it

FAITH: 2.b (1) : firm belief in something for which there is no proof

SUPERSTITION: 2. a notion maintained despite evidence to the contrary

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

How do you argue for the validity of one spiritual belief over another spiritual belief when the two concepts are basically equivalent? How is praying to a dead saint any different than talking to your dead mother? How is faith really all that different from superstition?  In this excerpt from the February 2011 issue of "Awake!" the Jehovah Witnesses attempt to address these questions, offering up an amusing bit of religious cognitive dissonance with dashes of western elitism.

For those unfamiliar with Jehovah Witness beliefs, one of their core principals is that the end of days began in 1914, when Jesus returned undetected to the earth and began to separate the saved from the damned. Prophesy indicated that Armageddon would occur "before the generation that was living in 1914 will have died out." A quick review of a life expectancy table will tell you that the Apocalypse is running a little late -- which has lead to a number of revisions to prophesy in recent decades. A comprehensive review of this theological backpedaling can be found here.

"You cannot be partaking of 'the table of Jehovah' and the table of demons." So watch out, fans of young adult fiction. Don't let your love of Harry Potter keep you out of heaven.