In Seattle, all the high roads lead to Vivian McPeak.
It sometimes seems Vivian knows everyone connected to the marijuana movement in the Emerald City, and everyone knows Vivian. The members of this diverse community of medical marijuana activists, pot legalization advocates, and industrial hemp boosters don't always agree on strategy and tactics, but one thing they do almost all agree on is that McPeak is a good guy.
When you meet Vivian in person, it's impossible not to notice his crackling intelligence, his sense of humor, his passion and his commitment. His dynamic energy and chronic charisma have placed him at the center of Seattle's marijuana community, and as director of the annual Seattle Hempfest (the biggest -- and quite likely the best -- marijuana rally in the world), McPeak wears that mantle well.
Vivian was a rock musician in the 1980s. When his Los Angeles-based band disbanded in in 1986, he landed in Seattle, where he performed in the band Stickerbush (music at http://www.myspace.com/vivianmcpeak). Soon he began forming the Seattle Peace Heathens Action Group, a community volunteer group.
In 1991 McPeak, then known as an emcee for local leftwing political rallies, was asked by a friend if he'd be interested in working on something called a Hempfest, and “hempstory” was made. McPeak went on to become the event’s director and guiding light. His influence, leadership and focus on personal responsibility has taken Seattle Hempfest to the distinction of being known as the largest and most successful annual political rally, and the largest pot rally on Earth.
McPeak was High Times Magazine’s 2001 Freedom Fighter of the Year (which brought him celebrity judge status at the annual Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam). McPeak has also been Heads Magazine Activist of the Year, Eat The State Magazine’s Local Hero, and Real Change Magazine’s monthly “Change Agent.” He has worked regionally with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
Vivian has appeared on numerous local radio stations and in print magazines, advocating sensible, rational and compassionate alternatives to the misguided and failed drug and cannabis policies of today.
Where: King Cat Theater, 2130 6th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98121 When: Friday, October 3, 2008 - Doors Open 8 pm $10 Music by The Café Authors, The Herbivores, The Super Sonic Soul Pimps, Upwell, and special guests
What better way to celebrate and commemorate 50 years of life and 20 years of activism than by throwing a party?
“I have assembled my favorite local bands all in one show, this is the cream of the crop of Seattle as far as I am concerned,” said McPeak, who added he wants to be called “Half-A-Cent” for reaching half a century old. “This proves there is life after sex, drugs and rock and roll,” McPeak grumbled as he sipped his yerba mate. “I’m a premature geezer at 50!”
McPeak plans to commemorate the celebration and kick it into high gear by getting a new tattoo on stage.
“When I was young I’d take two hits of acid and start the party. Now I take two antacids and start the heating pad,” he said as he took a long puff on a finely rolled marijuana cigarette. “When I was a kid it was all snap, crackle, and pop. Now it is just pop, Snapple, and crack. What happened?”
Police fire rubber bullets at protesters at the Republican National Convention, St. Paul, Minn., September 1, 2008
They're rounding up journalists now.
Covering breaking news has always been a Constitutionally protected activity in the United States. The Bush administration, however, seems intent on changing the rules -- or at least in seeing how far the government can push its police state mentality and get away with it.
St. Paul Police use pepper spray on antiwar protesters at the Republican National Convention on Monday. One of those sprayed was AP photographer Matt Rourke, who took this shot. (Photo: AP | Matt Rourke)
Lest the mainstream media think this can't happen to them, and in what may be a tipping point, mainstream journalists such as photographer Matt Rourke of the Associated Press have found out that even they aren't immune to the brutal and indiscriminate tactics of the police in suppressing dissent. Rourke was doused with pepper spray, knocked down and arrested by St. Paul police.
He was shooting photos of the protesters at a parking lot at 7th and Jackson streets, in downtown St. Paul, when police converged from three directions. "We were encircled, and as I moved toward the officers in front of me in a passive manner, my legs were taken out from behind in an aggressive manner," Rourke said Tuesday after 12 hours in jail.
"When you hear about journalists getting arrested, it’s very disturbing," said Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) "I mean, the news gatherers—how can the people know, if they don’t have news gatherers to gather the news and show them? But when those folks are being intimidated and even roughed up, it’s pretty—it actually is a threat to democracy and the First Amendment."
On Monday and Tuesday, officers in riot gear fired rubber bullets, teargas, pepper spray and concussion grenades at protesters and journalists covering the story in St. Paul near the convention.
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, predictably, expressed the opinion that the protesters should be arrested and left in jail. It's no surprise that Fox failed to distinguish between the great majority of peaceful, non-violent protesters and the actions of a few -- quite possibly government-planted agents provocateurs -- who broke storefront windows and engaged in other acts of vandalism. Kilmeade and his "fair and balanced" Fox colleagues ignored brutal police tactics and indiscriminate arrests directed against peaceful protesters and journalists.
According to journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, police in the Twin Cities arrested nearly 300 protesters, as well as several journalists covering the protest, on Monday. "I was arrested along with two producers from Democracy Now!: Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar," Goodman said. "Also arrested, Associated Press photographer Matt Rourke and two filmmakers from Pepperspray Productions, Lambert Rochfort and Joseph La Sac."
Marcus Washington, a producer from Tennessee who was documenting the antiwar protest, grimaces in pain after he was hit with pepper spray. (Photo: Jim Gehrz / Minneapolis Star Tribune)
"Nothing indicates that any of the three were actually participating in the protests, much less violating any laws that would warrant their arrest," wrote Taylor Shelton. "The police officers subdued the Kernel staff members with the use of pepper spray."
Everyday police violence seems to be the norm in Bush's America. On a weekly basis, we see shocking footage of police brutalizing ordinary Americans for no good reason. And when a security-intensive event like the RNC is held, it seems that the last vestiges of restraint are forgotten, as the police have free rein to assault, intimidate and detain peaceful, unarmed people who haven't broken any laws.
The Bush administration's Orwellian assault on the 4th Amendment is changing the political landscape. In one of the latest and most sinister manifestations of contempt for the Constitution, the right against unreasonable search and seizure is under siege by state, local, and federal police in Minnesota, as a Joint “Terrorism” Task Force has intimidated, searched, and arrested journalists for doing their job -- covering the news, along with activists, even before they'd even taken part in any protests, and seized their laptops and video cameras, all on the flimsy pretense of suspicions of “intent to riot” and even of, get this, “fire code violations.”
"St. Paul was the most militarized I have ever seen an American city be, even more so than Manhattan in the week of 9/11 -- with troops of federal, state and local law enforcement agents marching around with riot gear, machine guns, and tear gas cannisters, shouting military chants and marching in military formations. Humvees and law enforcement officers with rifles were posted on various buildings and balconies," Salon's Glenn Greenwald wrote. "Numerous protesters and observers were tear gassed and injured.
Protesters try to avoid pepper spray during a protest at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Monday, Sept. 1, 2008. (Photo: AP | Matt Rourke)
Greenwald described the targeting of leftists by "teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets." Journalists were detained at gunpoint and lawyers representing detainees were handcuffed at the scene.
The raids targeted members of "Food Not Bombs," an anti-war, anti-authoritarian protest group that provides free vegan meals every week in hundreds of cities all over the world. Food Not Bombs served meals to rescue workers at the World Trade Center after 9/11 and to nearly 20 communities in the Gulf region following Hurricane Katrina.
FISA and the Fourth Amendment may seem like some lofty abstraction to some people, but what’s happening in St. Paul is very real, and very important. Those are your freedoms they’re trampling on. Those freedoms, by law, apply to every American citizen, by virtue of our Constitution. The "Get FISA Right" ads, such as the one linked below, are one way to insist that’s not OK with us.
"We’ve got at least 9 Get FISA Right ads scheduled to air on the cable news networks during the Republican National Convention," said Jon Pincus of privacy advocacy group Get FISA Right. "With the live documentation of journalists in handcuffs and demonstrators teargassed and pepper-sprayed in St. Paul, a prime time Fox News ad defending the Constitution for only $123 feels like money very well spent. I know it’s been said a lot recently, but SaysMe.tv’s ability to let individuals air cable ads is really a game-changer."
This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the U.S. Copyright law. This material is distributed without profit.
Posts
