The Freedom Archives: An Interview with Claude Marks

by Hans Bennett

Claude Marks is the director of The Freedom Archives, a San Francisco-based organization. Through the website and email list-serves, it provides a valuable resource documenting both revolutionary struggle and police state repression. Freedom Archives also creates high quality audio and video documentaries, including the recent video about the San Francisco Eight, titled "Legacy of Torture."

FROM THE MEDIA MOBILIZING PROJECT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
6/13/08

Press contacts:
Todd Wolfson (MMP): 215.990.3702
Gwen Shaffer: 267.475.1441

The Future of Philadelphia's Wireless Internet Initiative:
A Public Forum

When: Wednesday, June 18, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Tuttleman Learning Center, Room 105,
Corner of 13th St. and Montgomery Ave. Temple University

Panelists Include:
Mark Rupp, Principle, Boathouse Communications
Beth McConnell, Executive Director, Media and Democracy Coalition
Karl Garcia, Technical Staff, Google's Wireless network, Mountainview, Calif.
Greg Goldman, CEO of Wireless Philadelphia
Phuong Ninh, Philadelphia Student Union's Youth Leadership Team
Bill Green City Councilman-At Large
Invited, representative from the Nutter administration

From a press release from the Media Mobilizing Project:

Local residents urged to call Mayor Nutter May 21 and demand his administration block Earthlink from dismantling the city's WiFi network

When: Wednesday, May 21st 9AM-5PM
Phone Number: (215) 686-3000 or (215) 686-2250

Media Mobilizing Project and local broadband activists are urging Philadelphians to call Mayor Michael Nutter on Wednesday May 21, to demand that the city step in to save the Wireless Philadelphia network and keep digital inclusion as part of it's agenda. Earthlink plans to begin dismantling the $17 million network June 12, after failing to convince either the city or a non-profit to assume ownership.

So I curious about people's read on the latest salvo's between Rev. Wright at the Press Club vs. Obama's reaction. I'm still sorting it out. Its not that any of Wright's comments in the Q & A section were so terribly off (though they were clownish to the point of resembling a stand-up routine at points) but jeesh! "With friends like this who needs enemies" as they say.

First Wright's Q&A session:

The Media Mobilizing Project got big time coverage today in The New York Times. Todd Wolfson and the MMP crew really are getting new media tools in the hands of new and hard-pressed communities.

I met Todd through my work at PUP, and I have to confess that I was pretty skeptical about what his organization was trying to do when he first told me about it. You could even say I was skeptical to the point of being discouraging.

I can be accused of many things, though, but not of failing to acknowledge it when I'm demonstrably wrong. The fact that MMP really is getting normal people to use these tools has been well (and prominently) documented today. Click read more for the details!

... Or rather, people I am not sick of, specifically three of them (Link:)

After learning that battered women in Philadelphia are largely responsible for serving their attackers with court stay-away orders, aghast City Council members yesterday called upon the Committee on Public Safety to explore alternatives to a process they deemed dangerous for abuse victims.

"The current system . . . is absolutely preposterous and untenable," Councilman Bill Green said in a statement. "Not only are we causing the abuse victim additional mental anguish, but we are placing the victim in additional danger of physical harm."

Green, along with Council members Maria Quinones Sanchez, Curtis Jones Jr. and Blondell Reynolds Brown, introduced a resolution authorizing the safety committee to hold hearings on the service of protection-from-abuse orders, or PFAs.

Yesterday's resolution was prompted by a Daily News series on domestic violence that ran in late December.

The series followed one victim's exhausting and frightening quest to serve her alleged attacker with a temporary PFA issued by Family Court.

Quinones Sanchez, Green, and Jones, Jr. To paraphrase my hero, Ronald Reagan, there they go again.

Basically, we have a stupid, asinine law that women who get protective orders against their abusers must... actually serve those orders themselves. If women felt like they were in danger, they could call 911 and get police to accompany them, which about half do.

I am sure calling 911 is a barrier for some women in the first place. And, even if the police do a good job of accompanying them whenever they are asked, it is ridiculous that we are putting abused women in the position where they have to unnecessarily confront their alleged abuser.

We have some good Councilpeople who have served for a while (Kenney, Tasco, Goode, etc.), but sometimes bringing in new people is simply helpful because they can look at stupid things that have gone for a long time, and simply say "WTF?"

My BFF, Donna Miller, is chair of the Public Safety Committee, and yet to set hearings. Hopefully this happens soon.

Nice job, Daily News. This is just another example of how important local print media can be.

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Update: Please see the comments below from Seth Levi, from Councilman Green's office, who clarifies (and corrects me, on) what exactly happens when woman get protective orders.

Come to Tritone at 15th & South on Feb 23rd at 9pm for a concert to promote "Net Neutrality."

The event is sponsored by the Future of Music Coalition, PennPIRG, the Media and Democracy Coalition and other groups.

A bevy of woman-centric bands and DJs will play Tritone in support of "Rock The Net," Future of Music Coalition’s ongoing campaign for net neutrality. Appearing at the “Sugar Town” concert are Beretta 76, Victor Victor Band, KeN, Surgeon and DJ Chatty Cathy.

The Internet is an increasingly powerful tool for musicians, making the playing field more level for big record labels and the smallest bedroom recording artists. The Internet is also a critical tool for free speech and democracy, giving individuals the chance to communicate free of gatekeepers in mainstream media.

On a regular basis, the FCC tries to relax the federal rules that have stood for 50 years to safeguard the diversity of voices whose expression make democracy possible. We didn't need to do this before radio, TV, and the internet, since you could make newspapers at home, but mass media changed all that. "Mass media" should be for the masses.

Here's the Common Cause email I got today...they are doing it again. PLEASE click on the link and send a letter/fax. This time, the FCC is not even designating what regulations they want to change.

http://www.commoncause.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=194...

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Dear Hannah,

The FCC is up to its old tricks again.

They want to set new media ownership rules without any public input -- just like they did in 2003. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) won't tell us exactly what the new rules would do, but every indication is that they'll let Big Media get even bigger.

Over the weekend, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran an in-depth story about Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett's investigation into bonuses given to some staffers by Pa. House Democrats. As I wrote last week, Corbett (who is a Republican) seems strangely uninterested in similar activities on the GOP side of the aisle. The Post-Gazette article is problematic in many ways, but here is the bit that really concerns me:

"The evidence seems to support the claims that tax money is being used to fund campaign work for incumbents," said Matt Brouillette, president of the government watchdog group Commonwealth Foundation.

I have no idea if the allegations against the Democratic leadership are true. However, I do know that the Commonwealth Foundation is not a "government watchdog group." It is the Pennsylvania version of the Heritage Foundation-- a constant source of right-wing propaganda and misinformation. In the last few months, they have led the opposition to funding for mass transit, expanding healthcare coverage, and legislation designed to protect the rights of workers to organize. All of these positions can be found by looking at their website. Frankly, identifying an organization like the Commonwealth Foundation as simply a "government watchdog group" is bad journalism at best and completely disingenuous at worst.

There will be ongoing coverage of Corbett's investigation into Pa. House Democrats. If there were any laws broken, then those responsible should be prosecuted. However, the media must keep this investigation in context. It is primarily a political stunt undertaken by Republicans to weaken the ability of Democrats to maintain control of the Pa. House of Representatives in the 2008 election. We've got to keep an eye on journalists who cover Harrisburg to make sure they are telling the entire story.