Support the South Central Farmers in L.A. !

An URGENT update from Tezo, spokesperson for the South Central Farmers:

Greetings to all our supporters and allies and thank you so much for your support.

We have information from reliable sources that the Sheriff's Department will be evicting the farmers and supporters on-site very soon, and daily now there is an overwhelming presence of police helicopters circling in what appears to be their preparations for the eviction. The only way to prevent this is to grow the numbers of supporters both inside and outside the farm gates.

There are now nightly candlelight vigils taking place at the farm at 7pm. We are asking everyone here in Los Angeles to come down to the farm and stand with us in solidarity!!!

Come down and bring food, water, candles, flashlights and your passion for the largest urban farm in the United States!

If you can't join us, please spread the word to everyone you know. Create phone trees and email blasts and remind everyone that if every Los Angelino just gave $1 we could save this place.

In the last 24 hours, hundreds of thousands of dollars has been committed by so many of you to help save the South Central Farm, but unfortunately we are still far short of the amount we need. What we really need is time, and we are running out of that too.

Contribute your donations at either this or this site--NOW!

And stay up-to-date by calling the HOTLINE at (866) SCFARM1.

There is still time for a miracle! Let's save this national treasure!

In solidarity,

Tezo, for the community of South Central Farmers
______________________________________________________

Background: Since 1992, the 14 acres of property located at 41st and Alameda Streets in south Los Angeles have been used as a community garden or farm. The land has been divided into 360 plots and is believed to be one of the largest urban gardens in the country. According to a Free Speech Radio report, the South Central Farmers grow enough food to feed "roughly 350 families" on an ongoing basis. The land ownership has changed a little over the past six years, and now the current owner is demanding that the farmers--the current tenants--pay up $16.5 million or face eviction. (Of course, Wal-Mart figures into this, as the corporation is reportedly offering to pay at least that amount of money to have this land.) So here we have another David v. Goliath scenario, and many folks and activists and urban farming advocates are drawing connections between what just went down in Atenco, Mexico (the federales went in after some "ugly-looking" flower sellers and basically declared war on poor Mexicanos trying to make a living.

Here's an excerpt from an article by reporter Ruth Vela:

"Mexican police attacked flower vendors in San Salvador Atenco on May 3rd, as the vendors tried to sell in their usual area, now a future site of a Wal-Mart.

The flower vendors were occupying the space in the Texcoco market when they were assaulted by police. The next day before dawn the vendors returned with supporters from the town of Atenco to confront the police and reoccupy their space.

The police again responded with violence, this time using batons and tear gas.

Some 3,000 federal police surrounded the town of Atenco. They were later joined by state and local police. The troops proceeded to launch so much tear gas that the town was engulfed in a cloud. Some protesters were then arrested while others were able to escape and hide."

[The article can be read in its entirety here. Another, more recently-published article by Vela, focuses on the impact of the Atenco situation on the women who were taken into police custody there.]

+++++++
So, you may not want to make a connection between what happened in Atenco and what is now going down in L.A., here in the States. You may be ultimately thrilled that Wal-Mart is looking into selling organic food in its stores, even as its unchecked growth as a multi-national corporation sends the small-scale growers and sellers scurrying off the land Wal-Mart covets. Once again, community is deprioritized as capital satisfies its greedy urges. But, at this moment, a vigil and concert are happening on the South Central acreage and folks like Julia Butterfly, Joan Baez, and Darryl Hannah are showing up in solidarity with the encamped farmers. The people are not going to quietly succumb...

One more info-link