Appendix: Mutual Aid as Direct Action

Many of us at Des Moines Mutual Aid have lived in Des Moines for years struggling to find effective ways to connect with others interested in creating positive social change in our area. Often times we found it difficult to organize events or reach out to groups or individuals without having access to resources unavailable to us at the time. There are plenty of people out there doing great work–but not enough, it seems, working together.

We started this project because we wanted to meet others likes us who are tired of waiting for politicians to solve our problems. We have the power and ability to make some pretty big changes on our own and together. With any luck, this site will be at least part of that change and can help bridge the gap between those who have community-building projects going already and those who want to be part of things but don’t know where to start.

The fact is, outside the arena of party politics there exists an appetite for free activities and spaces that can be a point of departure for bigger and better things in Des Moines; people working together to make the lives they want without having to bend to the whim of a political party or organizations’ strict guidelines or platforms. This begins with mutual aid.

Online Store

We now have an online store that will operate as a fundraiser for our mutual aid projects and for people who have been victims of political repression. Activists are being harassed and jailed at an alarming rate and they need our support!

Check out the store for further information.

Support Carrie and Scott!

Carrie Feldman and Scott DeMuth are activists from Minneapolis, MN, who were subpoenaed to a federal grand jury in Iowa investigating animal rights vandalism from 2004. They both refused to cooperate with the grand jury, and were put in jail. Carrie is still being held on civil contempt of court. On 11/19, Scott’s civil contempt was dropped and he was indicted for conspiracy under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. Scott was released on 11/30 pending trial.

Until further notice, half of ALL proceeds from our fundraising will go towards Carrie and Scott’s legal defense. You can also donate by using the button on the side–those funds will also go towards their legal help.

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Read more about their case at: http://davenportgrandjury.wordpress.com/

Our pals over at subMedia write:

The 2010 Winter Olympics will take place in Vancouver & Whistler, on unceded Indigenous land, from February 12-28 2010. We call on all anti-capitalist, Indigenous, housing rights, labour, migrant justice, environmental, anti-war, community-loving, anti-poverty, civil libertarian, and anti colonial activists to come together to confront this two-week circus and the oppression it represents. We are organizing towards a global anti-capitalist and anti-colonial convergence against the 2010 Olympic Games.

The Blueprint is the largest update of fur farm addresses in nearly 15 years and is the product of a 13,000-mile investigation of over 75% of the fur farms in the country.

Whatever your politics are regarding animal consumption, the fur industry is one of the most vile and cruel businesses out there.  Take a look at the list, particularly the ones in Iowa, and be surprised at what’s happening in your own backyard.

The Blueprint PDF Download

Included in the 62-page document:

*Massively updated state-by-state fur farm address list

*Photos of nearly 100 mink, fox, and lynx farms.

*Anonymous reports and photos from clandestine visits to fur farms and industry research sites.

*Updated closed farm database.

*Detailed data and status updates on over 200 fur farms.

*Dozens of newly discovered, unpublished fur farm addresses.

The Blueprint: Fur Farm Intelligence Project Report was compiled with the intent of mapping the entire supply-side and infrastructure grid of the industry: from auction houses to feed suppliers, fox farms to research facilities.

The Blueprint contains new addresses and updated data on:

*Fox farms

*Mink farms

*Lynx farms

*Fur industry research farms

*Fur feed suppliers

And much more.

20 years of collected fur farm data has culminated in this document.

Visit www.voiceofthevoiceless.org for more info

On Tuesday, a major 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti, leveling cities and possibly killing hundreds of thousands. We are listing the more reputable aid organizations so that folks can donate.

*Doctors Without Borders
*Partners in Health
*Grassroots International
*Télécoms Sans Frontières

Do not contribute to the Red Cross (organizational corruption) or Yele Haiti, Wyclef Jean’s organization which is distributing his call for US military intervention in Haiti.

News

Haiti earthquake: Friday news updates (CNN)

Earthquake Survivors Dying as Aid Struggles to Reach Haiti

Haiti’s Main Port ‘Collapsed and Not Operational’

Satellite photos

Call for Solidarity and Funds for the Working People of Haiti!

“The Sound of Screaming Is Constant”–Haiti Devastated by Massive Earthquake, Desperate Search for Survivors Continues

Report from Haiti: Desperate Call for Aid with Rescue Equipment, Medicine, Food & Water in Short Supply

Haiti Devastated by Largest Earthquake in 200 Years, Thousands Feared Dead

“S.O.S… Port-au-Prince is Devastated…” 7.0 Earthquake Hits Haiti

Haiti: eye-witness to devastation

An Urgent Appeal from the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund

Seismologist Roger Musson: Haiti Quake Was ‘The Big One’

Carrie Feldman is an activist from Minneapolis, Minnesota, who was recently subpoenaed to a federal grand jury in Iowa investigating animal rights vandalism from 2004. She is currently refusing to cooperate with the grand jury. She is 20 years old, and has worked with a variety of projects in the Twin Cities, including Coldsnap Legal Collective, EWOK!, and the Jack Pine Community Center. A former student of the College of St. Catherine, Carrie is currently taking a year off from school and spends her time traveling, doing personal care assistant work for her grandma, and working on activist projects.

Scott DeMuth is an activist from Minneapolis, Minnesota, who was recently subpoenaed to a federal grand jury in Davenport, Iowa. He has been involved in several projects in the Twin Cities including the Anarchist Black Cross and the Jack Pine Community Center. He is currently a member of EWOK! (Earth Warriors are OK!), Oyate Nipi Kte, and the editorial collective for the Dakota community journal Anpao Duta. He is also a Dakota language student and a graduate student in the Sociology Department at the University of Minnesota.

The two were both detained indefinitely(up to 11 months in jail) yesterday at their contempt hearing for refusing to cooperate.

You can write e-letters and send them to us at davenportgrandjury@wordpress.com. We’ll print them out and send them along! You can also send physical mail to them at the addresses below.

Carrie:
Carolyn Feldman
Washington County Jail.
2185 Lexington Blvd. PO Box 6
Washington, IA 52353

Mail rules: nothing graphic, no perfumes, nothing but the address on the envelope. She can have 10 small pictures total in her cell. No Polaroids. You cannot send stamps; she has to buy them with commissary money.

Books can be sent from anywhere, but they have to be approved by the administrator. No hardbacks. However, she can only have 2 books at a time, so we’re asking people to hold off on sending books to her for now. We’re setting up a system to get books to her and will update about this in the next day or two.

Scott:
Muscatine County Jail Inmate
c/o “Scott DeMuth”
400 Walnut Street
Muscatine, Iowa 52761

Mailing Regulations:
Please make sure that the return address includes a full name and address, or it won’t get to him.
Scott can have photos (no limit), but no Polaroids. You can’t send stamps; he has to pay for them with commissary money.

Books can come from a publisher or book store. No hardbacks. Limit: “something reasonable, not 20 or 30.”

Donations and Fundraising

Carrie and Scott are going to need money for legal fees and commissary funds; they will particularly need the latter for essentials such as phone calls and mailing supplies. Neither of them have limits on commissary money, and any extra they have when they get out will be returned to them.

You can donate through paypal by clicking here.

For more information on Grand Juries please click here.


davenportgrandjury.wordpress.com

Hello!  It’s been a while since our last update.  There are new projects on the horizon that we will announce in the coming weeks, so hold tight! Also, the entire site is getting an overhaul and should be more functional soon. We’re inexperienced web-designers and are hacking our way through….

We are still alive and still committed to transforming Des Moines into a rad place to live.  Surprisingly, it’s taking us longer to overthrow capitalism than we thought….

What to expect:   a weekly radical news broadcast(NPR-style), stories of resistance from Des Moines and surrounding areas, free movie nights, lots of upcoming events, and more that we cannot say just yet!

Check back for more details.

When:  SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5th
Where:  DRAKE PARK(24th & Cottage Grove)
Time:  11-3pm

The next Really, Really Free Market is quickly approaching!  With last month’s ‘Free Market being such a success, we’re incredibly excited to see what everyone brings this time around!

A few things you can expect to see/participate in:   lots of free clothes, food and other items brought by members of the community;  ear candling demos, Gauranga Reiki workshops and free yoga lessons*, a capoeira performance and much more!

*Ear Candling, Yoga and Reiki workshops all provided for free by the Firehouse Yoga studio(2300 University Ave.)  Morning Rain Massage | visit them at www.firehouseyoga.net and www.morningrainmassage.com

We’re also encouraging everyone to bring food to share for the neighborhood potluck that will be happening in collaboration with the ‘Free Market.  Flyers for both will be posted soon!

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For those of you unfamiliar with the event, we’ve posted a couple of informational pages to help you plug in:

• Really, Really Free Market–What it is, How it works

• What is Mutual Aid?

From the organizers:

Bring something to share–take something you need!

Everyone is welcome at this monthly event at which people share goods, services, skills, performances, stories, crafts, food, games, music, clothing, furniture, plants, and other resources.

In a time of recession and economic crisis, events such as this one are especially important, as they demonstrate how communities can maintain themselves even when the capitalist system fails them. If you are unemployed, facing foreclosure, or struggling with debt, or if you care about others who may be facing these challenges, come participate in building this community infrastructure! We can all prosper with or without the economy, if we base our lives and interactions on cooperation rather than competition.

Better than a yard sale, the Really Really Free Market has no price tags: there is no buying, selling, or exchanging involved. At this market, everything is strictly free. This event is a celebration of the cooperation and gift-giving that make life possible beyond the constraints of market capitalism: it is an afternoon when social status has nothing to do with what you own, and when giving and receiving happen directly rather than being administered through an institution or organization. As at other Really Really Free Markets across the U.S. and around the world, we aim to create and participate in a world in which resources are held in common, the community meets the needs of the community, and “free” means just that: really, really free.

Nothing is required for participation, but think creatively about the skills you have and could teach, the useful or beautiful things you have and don’t need, or the resources you might be able to bring and share.

Because there’s enough for everyone
Because sharing is more fulfilling than owning
Because corporations would rather the landfills overflow than anyone get anything for free
Because a beautiful day outside together is better than anything money could buy
Because “free trade” is a contradiction in terms
Because no one should go without food, shelter, entertainment, and community
Because life should be a picnic, but it’s up to us to make it one

BECAUSE THERE IS TOO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH!