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BOOM: The Sound of Eviction
By Allie Morris
Mar. 15 (AGR) — The pattern of gentrification is often
more familiar than the word itself: cheap real estate (inhabited or
otherwise) is bought, scrubbed, and sold at a much higher rate. In the
glossy language of politicians, the process is cheerfully described
as “revitalization.” To the police, it is “neighborhood
clean-up.” To the suddenly displaced working class families, small
businesses, and non-profit organizations in areas being cleansed, it
is destruction. Communities are pulled apart, homelessness surges, and
the gap between rich and poor grows ever wider.
Such is the message of the documentary BOOM: The Sound of Eviction.
The movie chronicles the effects of the dot-com boom in San Francisco
on people living and working in the city’s Mission District. It
is at once a somber and inspiring picture of area residents organizing
to shield themselves from the shrapnel of the economic explosion.
As investors poured their money into San Francisco’s high-tech
economy, a wave of gentrification and displacement swept over the city,
pushing out long-time residents and cherished institutions. Expensive
condos, glitzy new restaurants, and new “homes for businesses”
were erected to welcome the overnight millionaires following the internet
gold rush. Meanwhile, Mission residents, 80 percent of whom rent, suffered
fromevictions in the thousands and rents that doubled and sometimes
tripled, all without a proportionate increase in wages.
Filmmakers Francine Cavanaugh, A. Mark Livi, and Adams Wood manage to
capture the vibrancy and vitality of a neighborhood that, while being
ripped apart at the seams by jackhammers and speculators, still holds
together enough to put out incredibly consistent, cohesive, and creative
protest measures. As one Mission dweller notes, “this is not the
Struggle, the Cause; this is nuestra causa!- Our
cause!” Their cause and struggle is nothing less than one against
invasion and occupation. The wealthy invaders, who are incidentally
a small minority of the population, have every “legitimate”
resource at the ready: full support from the apparently idiotic mayor
Willie Brown, a seemingly infinite supply of money, and co-operation
from the police to “clean up” the newly expanding homeless
population.
Folks quickly determined that mercy was unlikely to come from the very
city government that sponsored and promoted the development projects.
Intercut throughout the film, Mayor Brown acts as a court jester cum
PR officer for the kings of commerce in his abstract ramblings on city
life and economy.
Adams Wood explained, “It was obvious to everybody it was corrupt.
[Mission activists] were bringing 500 people to these planning meetings
and everyone was speaking against the development and it got passed
anyway.”
Refusing to be stymied by the moneyed forces, residents moved to further
action, including street theater, massive protests, confronting landlords
directly, and, ultimately winning several key battles. Still, thousands
were displaced in the “neighborhood improvement” effort.
Woods asks, “Is it an improvement to see upscale chain stores and
luxury condos put in your neighborhood? Can we improve it so if there’s
a park that’s getting all smashed up, can we improve the park and
also bring the people who are screwing it up along with that? We need
to see the people as part of the neighborhood.”
One of the most striking elements of BOOM is just how un-exceptional
the story is. Though most cities and towns do not see the influx of
money and subsequent economic bust to the dot-com extreme, the patterns
illustrated are reflected nation-wide. BOOM could be set almost
anywhere. The boutiques, upper-end restaurants, and chain stores that
sprouted towards the beginning of the process remind one of this little
mountain city. The longtime artist live/work spaces that were evacuated
and revamped as one-bedroom “artist studio space” for a meager
$2,900 per month parallels Asheville’s River District. The lofty
condominium projects that removed old housing and residents, but remained
empty when the bubble burst compares to what Ashevillians saw in the
1920s- perhaps what we may see again. The 260 non-profit organizations
that lost their leases brings to mind the recently evicted Asheville
Community Resource Center and the numerous non-profits housed under
its roof.
On the decision to screen the film as a benefit to the ACRC, Wood remarks,
“It’s a really stark and public example of gentrification
in Asheville that a lot of people know about and can understand…We
really need to question what people mean when they talk about revitalization
or redevelopment of our downtown spaces.”
BOOM will screen at Asheville’s Fine Arts Theater Thursday,
Mar. 25, 9pm. Ticket sales ($5-$20, sliding scale) will benefit the
Asheville Community Resource Center, which was recently forced to leave
their home at 63 N. Lexington. Advance tickets are on sale now at Mountain
Eye Media, The Fine Arts Theater, Rosetta’s Kitchen, and Malaprop’s
Bookstore. In addition to the film, there will be a performance by local
spoken word artist Dwayne Barton, and a panel discussion on local gentrification
and displacement issues. Present will be two of the three film directors
(Francine Cavanaugh and Adams Wood,) representatives of the ACRC, and
speakers from other Asheville communities facing displacement.
The compassion of a conservative Christian
By Bob Strott
Mar. 15 (AGR)— The Passion of the Christ is just
a movie; it is not a celluloid version of the gospels. This basic fact
appears, however, to be lost on many of those currently filling theaters
throughout the country. But like all other creative endeavors, the film
is ultimately a very revealing look at its creator. And herein lies
the truly interesting part of The Passion phenomenon: it’s
easy to watch the movie and draw the simple conclusion that Gibson is
a truly disturbed individual, but it leads one to wonder why such a
gruesome vision appeals to so many who call themselves “Christians.”
Gibson identifies himself as a Traditionalist Catholic, placing him
squarely in the camp of religious fundamentalists. This goes a long
way toward explaining why so many Evangelical Protestants have been
so partial to the vision of a Catholic, who under normal circumstances
they might dismiss as more of a pagan than a Christian. But a Traditionalist
Catholic is no ordinary Catholic, subscribing instead to a darkly medieval
version of their church and the world. And as many fundamentalists seem
to feed largely on images of an angry and vengeful god taking out his
wrath on the living and damning the unfaithful dead to a lake of fire,
they must find much that is gratifying in the violent and horrific spectacle
served up by Gibson.
The unrelenting violence of Gibson’s Passion was crafted
in the pursuit of total realism, to paraphrase the director’s justification.
And yet there are egregious departures from the passion play as told
in the Gospels. Gibson actually inserts an androgynous Satan (played
by a woman) as a character into the story. At one point s/he moves among
the crowd watching Jesus’ flesh-ripping flogging, carrying a demon
child, and obviously delighting in the unbelievably brutal torture.
A guilt-wracked Judas is tormented by children who morph in and out
of demonic form as they drive him outside the city walls. A criminal
with whom Jesus is co-crucified badmouths the Messiah; a raven promptly
alights upon the criminal’s cross, ala The Omen, and plucks
out one of his eyeballs. None of these examples are to be found in the
Bible, but Gibson obviously found them important enough to change the
story and include.
That Gibson chose a woman and children to use as images of fear and
agents of God’s wrath is particularly troubling. That Jesus, his
mother, and Mary Magdalene don’t look Semitic in the least, appearing
instead very European, certainly bothered me. That the Roman patricians,
Pontius Pilate and his wife Claudia, are treated in extremely sympathetic
fashion, while the working-class Roman soldiers are depicted as blood
thirsty troglodytes, and most of the Jews as simply blood thirsty, was
offensive. But most disturbing of all was the comment I heard so often
among the believers leaving the theater, usually uttered in awe-inspired
and reverent tones, “It’s exactly the way it was.”
One of the central beliefs of Traditionalist Catholics is that the mass
should be returned to its pre-Vatican II form. This means, most importantly,
that the ritual would once again be performed in Latin, by a priest
whose back is turned to the congregation. Such an archaic service is
an appropriate expression of an equally archaic world-view, one which
emphasizes the separation between humanity and God and the need for
an official church hierarchy, or priestly caste, to intercede on our
behalf to the creator. Thus the subtitled nature of Gibson’s Passion,
with dialogue in Latin and Aramaic, is a faithful expression of his
belief system; and the audience is left with the crudest of bare-bones
translation, one which lacks any nuance or subtlety.
But the language barrier that stands between the audience and the story
in The Passion of the Christ is hardly the largest instance of
separation in the film. Far greater is the thematic separation of Jesus
from his life’s work and meaning. Because, other than brief and
disjointed flashbacks, the movie does not deal at all with Jesus’
mission or message, the story simply devolves into an elaborate exposition
of violence, fear, and disgust.
Jesus’ central method of teaching was through storytelling, but
not one parable is included. The Gospels, when they mention Jesus’
flogging at all, do so in less than one sentence. However, these same
Gospels devote a chapter or more to his resurrection and the events
that follow. Gibson chooses to ignore this obvious biblical tilt and,
instead, spends thirty minutes alone on his horrifically graphic version
of the scourging, while spending perhaps twenty seconds on the resurrection
and skipping anything else. The choice in emphasis is clear and the
choice is his. The audience is left brutalized by images, but those
images are never placed in a larger context. Thus nothing redeeming
is offered and no uplifting message ever emerges.
It’s amusing to note that if this were not a “religious”
film it would be quite accurate to classify it as a “horror movie.”
And maybe that’s the key to its appeal. It’s obvious, to hear
them talk about it, that a good many of those who call themselves “Christians”
feel the proper role of their religion is to scare the hell out of (or
into) anyone exposed to it, especially children. Thus it must be very
affirming to see something come out of the Hollywood system that validates
thei feelings. I remember taking stock of my surroundings in the theater
and being quite impressed by all the weeping and praying going on around
me. I was also dismayed by the number of children whose parents had
brought them; but not really surprised.
‘Confederate currency: the color
of money’
Art exhibit links economics with slavery
By Ursula Gullow
Mar. 16 (AGR) — The expression, “right on the money”
couldn’t be more appropriate when examining the economic history
of slavery in the United States. US currency issued by banks and industries
of the Deep South depicted glorified images of slavery throughout the
1800s. In a fascinating expose currently on display at the YMI Cultural
Center in downtown Asheville, artist John W. Jones has valiantly enlarged
tiny engravings of slavery scenes — once used on confederate currency
— into vibrant paintings in order to reveal the US’s profound
economic dependence on slavery. The evidence of slavery on money has
even invigorated the reparations movement — providing proof that
many corporations of today were started on the backs of free and exploited
labor.
In 1996 while working as a graphic artist for a blueprint company in
Charleston, John W. Jones noticed, upon enlarging a Confederate bank
note for a customer, an image of slaves picking cotton. Upon further
research of money issued in the south, he discovered that currency as
early as the 1820s depicted African workers. He decided to paint large
versions of the engravings to educate the public. His show, “Confederate
Currency: The Color of Money” is part history lesson and part art
exhibit. Each painting is juxtaposed with the banknote that its image
comes from, and it is interesting to see how Jones has interpreted the
original engravings. He writes, “ The paintings empower the slaves
by giving them a voice that asks us not to reflect on them as objects,
but rather, to join with them to confront the meaning of the system,
past in one sense, painfully persistent in others, which enslaved them.”
During the colonial era, blacks and whites worked as indentured servants,
and the very first depiction of Africans on currency actually has them
working side by side with whites without an element of subordination.
It was after the US imposed a tax on the head of each African imported
into the country — to help finance the new government — that
printers were asked to change images of white laborers into black slaves.
One of the first racist images, “Slave Overseer with Whip”
appears on a Farmers and Mechanics bank note from Augusta, Georgia issued
in the 1830s.
Serving as a propagandist device, Confederate currency of the 1800s
frequently romanticized the slaves’ experiences to assure people
living in the North that the exploitive institution was beneficial to
Africans. “House Slave,” a graphic that was used on several
Confederate notes, depicts a white and a black woman sitting and conversing
as equals in a field while they watch slaves picking cotton. In similar
style, “Slave Mother and Child” shows a well-dressed African
woman cradling her child – hypocritical, considering that children
of slaves were often sold away from their mothers.
“Slave Factory Workers” is the only known image of slaves
in an industrial setting. It can be found on a four dollar banknote
issued from Vanceuville, NC in 1860 — a year before the Civil War
began — to demonstrate that the South could take part in the Industrial
Revolution that was occurring in the Northeast at that time. However,
Southerners were worried that if slaves proved intelligent enough to
operate machinery, it would be difficult to justify keeping them in
bondage, so they discontinued printing the image.
Even after the Civil War, currency from the South continued to display
pictures of complacent black laborers. “Slave Cooking Dinner”
comes from a South Carolina bank note issued in 1872. It shows a black
man serving food to white soldiers -– the most prominent baring
a striking resemblance to George Washington.
The images of slaves on money directly engage the issue of reparations
today. Between 1450 and 1850, it is estimated that at least 12 million
Africans, and probably many more, were shipped from Africa across the
Atlantic Ocean, primarily to colonies in North America, South America,
and the West Indies. Banks and engravers were very deliberate in portraying
the importance of African American slave labor to the economic development
of the South and the nation. In one case, The Atlantic and Gulf Railroad
Company had issued money that depicted slaves working on the railroads
— proof that today its progeny — CSX Corporation — is
beholden to the profits of slave labor. This makes a strong case in
favor of the reparations movement which, according to Human Rights Watch,
“seeks not only financial compensation but also acknowledgment
by the US government of past abuses, an end to ongoing abuses, and,
as much as possible, restoration of the state of affairs that would
have prevailed had there been no abuses.” The United States has
never formally apologized for its participation in the slave trade.
Confederate Currency: The Color of Money is on display at the YMI
Cultural Center through March 31. www.colorsofmoney.com for more info
Puppet tour highlights police repression
By Skyler Simmons
Mar. 15 (AGR) -- For global justice activists, overt repression
at mass protests is becoming the norm. Police forces are arming themselves
with aresenals of rubber bullets and chemical weapons, pre-emptive arrests
are to be expected, and activists are increasingly stuck with trumped-up
charges. In light of this situation, acts of solidarity and legal support
for those hit by this wave of repression are more important then ever.
One such example is the Keep the Timoney 3 Free puppet tour currently
traveling the east coast in a bio-diesel car. Put on by the Providence
Puppet Posse (PPP), the tour seeks to raise awareness about the unjust
repression of protest and the political history of prisons from past
to present. The other focus of the tour is to raise money for legal
costs for Camilo Viveiros, one of the “Timoney 3.” Camilo,
a respected tenants rights activist, is being charged with first degree
assault of then Philadelphia Police Chief John Timoney during the 2000
Republican National Convention protests.
Many of Camilo’s co-workers and the tenants he serves find it hard
to believe that he is guilty of the crime which he faces 15-60 years
in jail for.
“We all know Camilo’s gentle temperament, his consistent patience
and his peace-keeping nature,” said Lori Ann Shemanski, a VISTA
project coordinator who has worked with Camillo. His co-defendants,
Darby Landy and Eric Steinberg, are accused of lesser charges involving
the alleged altercation with Timoney.
The PPP will be presenting two shows to the Asheville community. The
Terrible Tales of Timoney focuses on the crimes committed by career
protest repressor John Timoney at the Philadelphia RNC and Miami FTAA
protests. A Wall is Just a Wall is the story of various political prisoners
lives throughout history and aims to put the history of prisons in the
context of different social movements.
Aside from raising money for Camilo’s legal defense and bringing
awareness, PPP member Mary Blue hopes the puppet tour will, “help
build resistance to efforts to squelch our dissent.”
The PPP will be performing at 7:30 pm on Frida,y Mar. 19 at the Movement
and Learning Center above the French Broad Food Co-op. They will be
accompanied by the Black Lung Brass Band.
$5-15 sliding scale donation. No one turned away for lack of funds.
For more info about Camilo’s case: www.friendsofcamilo.org
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