A-Infos (en) US, Report from San Francisco Greek Solidarity March, December 20th - Update

The Mission, like many neighborhoods in the U.S. has been under the heavy assault of gentrification 
for well over a decade. A predominantly Latino neighborhood, the Mission District saw a 
particularly brutal episode of gentrification during the dot-com boom where MBAs from across the 
country rushed to silicon valley for the start-ups. They wanted to live in the Mission because of 
it's hip "ethnicness", sunny weather and all of it softened and desensitized by the young artists 
and counter-culture. This lost some steam after the bubble burst but the Mission continues to be 
gentrified rapidly by yuppies and hipsters. --*-- There hasn't been an official report back from 
the action organized in San Francisco in solidarity with the Greek uprising. Many apologies for 
that as it has led to uninformed commentary following a brief and hyperbolic SF Chronicle article 
(on infoshop.org). Below is a report from one of the organizers of the action. Hopefully it will 
answer some of the questions on people's minds and material to draw lessons on for our future 
efforts. ...................

The march convergence point was called by organizers for 4pm at the intersection of 24th and 
Mission St. Some background for those of you not familiar with San Francisco or recent anarchist 
organizing history in this neighborhood:

On July 5th, 2005 a Anti-G8 march was organized by anarchists in solidarity with the protests 
taking place in Scotland. A crowd of around 300 marched in the Mission District thrashing symbols 
of state and capitalist power. Once the police responded and arrived at the scene one officer got 
whacked across the head with a skateboard. This lead to arrests and legal hassles for a number of 
people.

Both of these factors were on people's minds during the organizing of the solidarity action.

.............

The call for the action (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/12/18/18555395.php) was specifically 
for a march followed by a general assembly to talk and organize around the collapsing economy, 
police brutality and the gentrification in the Mission. Those who organized the action included 
anarchists who have been organizing in the Bay Area for years, those who have just moved here and 
members of Iraq Vets Against the War. The action was organized in only three days by daily meetings 
(sometimes multiple ones in one day) and amongst other proposals a plan was chosen to have a 
non-confrantational march in the Mission District that would culminate in the occupation of New 
College where we would have a general assembly and attempt to hold the space for as long as we could.

New College is a now defunct private college with liberal left tendencies. The collage went 
bankrupt last spring owing partially to mismanagement and also to the swings of financial 
pressures. Two large buildings, in the middle of the Mission District have been sitting empty and 
have been placed on the real estate market. One of these buildings has been sold and will become an 
upscale toy store, the other is still in the process of being liquidated. We thought it would be an 
ideal space for a social center, with a large auditorium and multiple rooms that could be used for 
a variety of purposes. In fact the building has been used for various anarchist and left events and 
projects in the past.

---------

We gathered at 24th and Mission and after about 45 minutes approximately 200 people were assembled. 
We had a mobile sound-system in a shopping cart, anarchist flags and banners which read "Solidarity 
with the greek uprising," "Stop Police Violence," "Organize, Prepare for Capitalist Crisis," Police 
out of Greece, US out of the World," amongst others. Organizers had printed out leaflets that 
explained the events in Greece and tied it into our current, local context. None of us had 
anticipated the course of events that night and had not printed out enough leaflets for the whole 
duration of the march. It is a pity that there weren't enough to pass out by the time we would 
arrive to the Westfield Mall.

anarchist_rally_2008_038.jpg

We marched down Mission St., occasionally picking up supporters along the way. Important to note is 
that many passersby who saw the banner "Stop Police Violence", cheered or honked in support. Once 
we arrived to the front of New College, we realized that previous rumors we had heard that the 
police had information of our intentions were in fact true. The front gate to the building was 
chained and locked. There were undercover police officers inside and a line of cops on the outside. 
A couple of banners were dropped from the roof by people who had already entered the building 
previously to facilitate the occupation, they read "Burn the Banks, Smash the State", "Solidarity 
with Greek Uprising"

640_greek_solidarity_sf_5.jpg original image ( 1200x750)

This was the point where the march began to take a life of its own as we did not have clearly 
thought out contingency plans for what to do next. After speeches announcing our original 
intentions an impromptu facilitation took place where the group (around 100 people at this point) 
tried to decide what to do next. The momentum and energy was still present and most wanted to march 
on. And so we did.

anarchist_rally_2008_092.jpg

We marched down Valencia st., ground zero for Mission District yuppification, with chants against 
the rich and gentrification. It was clear that the trendy crowd were much less supportive to us 
than when we were on Mission street, only a couple blocks east. The spontaneity of the march grew 
after we left New College and when we came to the Mission Police Station it was more than evident 
that we should make a stop. The crowd rushed its way through police who were hastily trying to form 
lines and arrived at the front of the cop shop. More speeches were made on the sound-system about 
why we were there. At this point what we had thought to be a general assembly had degenerated into 
an open mic and some of the organizers tried to facilitate another discussion about what should 
come next. Some said we should occupy a yuppie restaurant and feast and others said we should go to 
the branch of Wells Fargo around the corner.

greek_solidarity_sf_8.jpg

As we marched to Wells Fargo it became more and more apparent that the action was degenerating into 
confusion and helplessness. The same kind of speeches were made in front of Wells Fargo and more 
decisions were tried to be made but the enthusiasm was clearly dying. Thankfully the group decided 
that the best course of action would be to bring our presence to the downtown, shopping district of 
San Francisco.

640_3124173219_a317b85f1c_b.jpg original image ( 1024x683)

The energy had clearly increased as we had a clear destination in mind. It seemed to me that our 
numbers grew again to around 150. The majority of the crowd was masked up but this was far from a 
black bloc in character and spirit. The energy was continually increasing as we started to run down 
the last block of valencia street to make it onto Market St. (the main street of San Francisco that 
runs through downtown). We held our space over two lanes and the cops let us march as we pleased. 
This is a clear difference from other major cities across the US (i.e. New York City), where taking 
over lanes of traffic in an un-permitted and spontaneous march is enough reason to unleash batons 
and make arrests. Police on motorbikes and cruisers just marched alongside us trying to maintain 
their presence.

640_3125000756_0dbe9e794c_b.jpg original image ( 1024x683)

640_3124174831_554aac16e1_b.jpg original image ( 1024x683)

The march down Market st. was without question one of the most successful parts of the action. We 
had major visibility as we went down the main artery of San Francisco and there was a clear sense 
of excitement as we approached downtown, seeing it from a distance. The group continued chanting 
against police and in solidarity with the insurrection in Greece. And then we came to the front of 
the Westfield mall.

640_3125001382_f34b80b129_b.jpg original image ( 1024x683)

The entry into the Westfield Mall was also fully spontaneous and not part of any plan as far as I 
am aware. It was just self-evident (similar to our stop in front of the Mission Police Station) 
that we needed to enter this temple of consumerism. The Westfield Mall is not your typical suburban 
cookie cutter mall but a high-class shopping center with many designer stores and even exclusive 
spaces for those who can afford to pay. Entering the mall with our sound-system, banners, and 
chants re-lifted the energy once again as we had a completely clueless audience who throughout the 
five floors of the mall were having their holiday shopping briefly interrupted by a dose of 
reality, having to stop and wonder what the fuck was going on in Greece and police violence. At 
this point the police were clearly fed up with us following our anti-capitalist instincts for hours 
throughout San Francisco and wanted us out of the mall. So they attacked and arrested a couple of 
the participants. At this point some of us wrecked a kiosk and attacked some windows in 
retaliation. 640_3124176093_0bf668837a_b.jpg original image ( 1024x683)

640_3127774932_c7039da911_b.jpg original image ( 1024x683)

Acknowledging that there are already countless reasons to shatter plate glass it is important to 
note that the small degree of property destruction that took place was after the police attacked 
us. The police continued attacking people and making arrests. The mood was quickly electrified as 
we started to yell in the faces of the cops to release our comrades. I observed a handful of 
shoppers also join in and call for the release of those arrested. The atmosphere of the mall was 
completely transformed and it was clear that there was an anti-police sentiment sweeping through 
the ground floor, not just from us but by people who were already there. Other young people on the 
street who had had no idea what was going on came into the mall with clear excitement on their 
faces and willing to join in in yelling at the police.

After a while the police were able to push everyone out of the mall. There was a crowd of about 250 
in front of the mall composed of those who had marched from the Mission, others who had just joined 
in out of hatred for the cops and random people who were around. We still had the sound-system and 
used this opportunity to announce to the crowd the reasons behind our presence there and the 
situation in Greece. At this point we realized that those arrested inside were in the paddy wagon 
in front of the mall. An attempt was made to surround the vehicle while banging on the sides of the 
paddy wagon, those inside responded by banging from the inside. The police pushed people away and 
took the vehicle down the street.

640_greek_solidarity_sf_15.jpg original image ( 1200x643)

Noticing that there was still energy and momentum within the crowd we decided to march towards 
Union Square, where the height of holiday spirit in San Francisco was present, including the city's 
massive christmas tree. We ran through the streets, occasionally tossing garbage bins to prevent 
the police cruisers from following us and concluded at the tree where more speeches were given to 
explain to the holiday crowd why we were there. At this point the corporate media had shown up and 
some people gave interviews to the press.

640_11.jpg original image ( 864x576)

..............

Overall it is hard to call this action a resounding success. But it was clearly rescued from being 
an utter failure due to the energy and spontaneity within the crowd following the foiling of our 
plans to occupy a space in the Mission and turn it into a social center. Had the crowd not decided 
to march to to downtown San Francisco I am sure that people would have left fully disappointed. 
What ended up happening is that a good number of people going about their shopping realized that 
there was a full blown uprising in Greece and people in San Francisco in solidarity with them. The 
instance in the mall, overplayed by the SF Chronicle, was some sort of culmination, but really only 
one part of everything that went down that evening including a nighttime attack on a Bank of 
America in the upscale West Portal neighborhood 
(http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/12/21/18555975.php).

We had organized legal support and people have been going to court to support our friends on the 
inside. We still have one more comrade in jail who will hopefully come out tomorrow.

Our original intention of occupying spaces and organizing out of them was one that we saw fitting 
into a larger organizing strategy, looking into the future, trying to (re)build an anarchist 
movement in the Bay Area. Rest assured that this is still our our priority. The events that took 
place in Greece in the past weeks give us a glimmer of what is possible when we are strong and 
organized. We won't just sit back and watch it on the internet but work towards similar and better 
uprisings in our own local contexts.

To the many insurrections to come!

More pictures and Indymedia coverage at:

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/12/18/18555410.php
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