Graffiti Busted by the PHX PD, finally.

The guy from Graffiti Busters came by yesterday morning to clean up Resistance Alley for a second time since June Artwalk -it was a busy weekend. Here's the follow-up to that original action - my challenge to the Phoenix Police to take action other than the ones they have to take against me.

Apparently, this is their only response.

  
The Graffiti Buster must not have to face the vandals whose art he demolishes very often - when I caught him checking things out and asked if he was planning to clean up my work, he muttered "maybe", then hurridly took off. I think I scared him: he was back less than 30 minutes later with four Phoenix Graffiti Detectives, one of whom finally read me my rights. 

The Graffiti Sgt. (Cadditz, I think) advised me that I can knock all this off now - he wasn't sure if I was facing felony charges yet or just a handful of misdemeanors, but he assured me that complaints about my activity have been referred for prosecution. I guess they've got a stack of evidence (including my blogs and postcards, I'd imagine) on someone's desk in the city attorney's office.

I'm not sure what exactly happened this AM with my rights being read to me - I automatically clammed up, though, which is kind of funny given how much I've already incriminated myself. I wasn't arrested - just warned that I will probably be getting notice of something about my other crimes in the mail. Funny how I still feel privileged - why can't I get arrested? 

Maybe I was Mirandized instead of arrested because I'm just a suspect in this new crime they all came to investigate (the art that was being removed right then, that I just confessed to creating). Maybe it's because I've been so cooperative, sending them my postcards from the edge as evidence. But why four cops? I think it was in case I got out of hand over my art being defaced.

Isn't that silly that the Graffiti Buster needed so many cops to protect and defend him - from ME, of all people? Granted, I was pretty upset to see my good work ruined - it wasn't bothering anyone but "The City" down there...of course, that's who I'm trying to annoy. 

Unfortunately, while they have plenty troops to deploy against me (and the city's taggers), they don't have a minute to spare of anyone who will even look into all these deaths in the prisons - not even one. I just get told to gather more evidence for them, and they'll think about it.

Seriously, what would it take for the new PHX Police Chief to just pick up the phone and say "Hey, Chuck Ryan - WTF??? How come all your prisoners are dying? We aren't sending any more criminals your way until you clean it up." Simple as that.

Real courage - that's what it would take. There isn't much of that among law enforcement out here in the Deep Southwest these days. They don't want to challenge power here -  they know who pays their way. And really, to do what I do in this place, apparently you must be a little mad. 

Resistance sure isn't coming from those most invested in maintaining this whole illusion that our justice system fundamentally works, that prison is a necessary part of it, and that they're all the good guys in this simplistic paradigm (that means those who oppose the state's police apparatus can only be "bad"). In fact, after he read me my rights I asked the Graffiti Sgt. who was going to do something about the prisons. He smiled and shook his head a little, then said " that's on you!" 


Great - no help at all. They'll sure show me, for trying harass and guilt trip the city into taking their share of responsibility for the prison crisis with my criminal activity. Not only will they clean up after me within hours of finding my work, they won't lift a finger to stop the rising death toll in the prisons.

So, I've said it before - fuck the DOJ, the ACLU, and the Phoenix Police if they won't help. 

Fuck the Arizona Governor and State Legislature, too.

And if you're reading this and not doing or saying anything 

about all these vulnerable people dying inside,

then fuck you, too.

If you want to make a difference, though, 

then help me do our own in-depth investigation and report, 

and we'll make them change without anyone else's intervention.

We'll be meeting weekly beginning July, probably at the new 

Ironwood Infoshop, soon to be in the back of 

The Fixx / 11 E. 7th St. / Tempe, AZ 85281

in the meantime to volunteer or donate to our efforts, contact me at:

Peggy Plews

PO Box 20494

Phoenix, Az 85036

prisonabolitionist@gmail.com

480-580-6807

I'm only at my 1009 N. 1st St. office until July 1 - then I'm going to be mobile.

So sad and so lovely...

Stop the HATE! Spring Break at AZ State Capitol!

Phoenix student walk-out, Arizona State Legislature. March 4, 2011.

Spring Break at the Arizona State Capitol begins Monday

MARCH 14, 2011

11:30am AZ State Capitol
1700 W. Washington St.
Phoenix, AZ 85007

Tucson Citizen
by Three Sonorans
on Mar. 10, 2011

As college students prepare for Spring Break next week, and as colleges face 20% budget cuts next year, Arizonans from around the state will be at the State Capitol from Monday to Friday of next week.

The state legislators have not done their most important job, and that is to balance the budget.

Instead they have been distracting the citizens of this great state with all these bogus and unconstitutional bills, everything from having guns in public buildings and universities, to forming the Arizona Rangers, a secret police force for Jan Brewer, a state border wall to be built with detained immigrants, huge 9 digit corporate tax cuts, anti-union bills, and of course the regular slew of anti-immigrant bills.

Arizona have had enough and say YA BASTA!

Caravans will be converging on the state capitol at noon on Monday.

In Tucson we will be meeting at Rudy Garcia Park, on Irvington and 6th Ave, at 8:30am and leaving promptly at 9pm. On Sunday evening from 5-7pm we will be having a sign-making party for our vehicles and person once we get to the capitol at Fortin de las Flores, on the Southeast corner of 31st and 6th Ave.

Russell Pearce first banned Latino activists, then the public, then the media from the senate building. He also took out the concrete/stone benches at the state senate building to tell Arizonans “you are not welcome here, you do not have a voice in your democracy.”

As a special bonus, former President George W. Bush will be visiting the area on Wednesday.

Come join the rest of the people that have had enough, and let your voice be heard!

Many people in Phoenix are opening up their homes for those who need a place to sleep or shower as protesters keep a 24 hour presence to tell Russell Pearce and the nation to stop the hate, fix the state, and BALANCE THE BUDGET!

Our jobs, schools, healthcare, and future depend on it!

For the latest info you can join the Facebook event page in English here, or in Spanish here. Anyone Tweeting from the Capitol will be using the hashtag #AZM14 and #AltoArizona for the Spring Break at the Capitol weeklong event.

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posted by activistausa

---------------------

Photos below are from the March 4, 2011 Phoenix student walk-out, where several hundred youth converged on the Capitol protesting the recent anti-immigration laws...

Stay tuned for a week long demonstration at the legislature now. :)

If you can't get to the capitol for any of the demonstrations there this week, try a little anarchy and autonomous action- it only takes one person to make resistance visible, and you can orchestrate something from wherever you are: put a sign on your car, or street corner, or chalk the sidewalks in choice places in your own town (or all of the above, so they think there's more than just one of you out nuts there). It's the conversations with ordinary people walking by that you have and generate about politics in the grocery store parking lot that will in time make a difference.



Better yet, find a place where you're likely to be seen by undocumented youth, and make sure they see your signs of solidarity. Your message will inspire and encourage them at a time when the state is legislating hate in their direction. I run into one of the McCain DREAM Fasters, Carlos, at these demonstrations and still get a big hug every time.

I kind of like the"Phoenix Point of Pride" signs with the image of the Arizona flag on it, like this one at Wes Bolin up at the Capitol. Just make sure to stay on the public sidewalks, keep it relatively clean for the kids there (their teachers will use your action as a chance to discuss the 1st Amendment, if they're any good), and don't deface any memorials, or you'll make us all pay for it.

Defend Free Speech for a Happier New Year.

December 22, 2010

I complained to the Phoenix Police today about being handcuffed and perp-walked Wednesday morning while exercising my First Amendment rights outside of City Hall. Then I informed them of my intention to chalk in front of their HQ. I was really just telling them what I was up to so I wouldn't get tasered or shot; I wasn't asking them for permission or to cut me a "break".

It didn't go over very well.

We argued for about 20 minutes, during which time one officer insisted that the "ground" in the Arizona Revised Statutes (pasted below) refers to dirt, not the sidewalk or street or anything paved. I was ultimately threatened with arrest on the spot and being booked into jail for criminal damage if I proceeded to chalk the walk, which I did.

I told them as I was walking out the door that I'd respect their access to their loading zone - which one officer made a good point about - but that as I understood it, chalking sidewalks isn't against the law, and if they really believed it was to come and get me. I'd rather have it out once and for all in court than haggle with them about it every time. Sooner or later, one of them is bound to hurt me.

They left me alone once I got started. They didn't even take down my personal information when I offered it (they probably already know who I am and where I live...).

Perhaps the "Graffitti Detectives" will chase me down another day. In the meantime, though, since my free speech at City Hall had just been stomped on, I still needed to make a "Happier New Year" card.

Here's two:

Let me know which one you like most and I'll send it to you -

just be sure to give me your snail mail address.

-------------------------------

From the Arizona Revised Statutes: Criminal Code

13-1602. Criminal damage; classification

A. A person commits criminal damage by recklessly:

1. Defacing or damaging property of another person; or

2. Tampering with property of another person so as substantially to impair its function or value; or

3. Tampering with or damaging the property of a utility.

4. Parking any vehicle in such a manner as to deprive livestock of access to the only reasonably available water.

5. Drawing or inscribing a message, slogan, sign or symbol that is made on any public or private building, structure or surface, except the ground,
and that is made without permission of the owner.

B. Criminal damage is punished as follows:

1. Criminal damage is a class 4 felony if the person recklessly damages property of another

in an amount of ten thousand dollars or more.

2. Criminal damage is a class 4 felony if the person recklessly damages the property of a utility in an amount of five thousand dollars or more or if the person recklessly causes impairment of the functioning of any utility.

3. Criminal damage is a class 5 felony if the person recklessly damages property of another

in an amount of two thousand dollars or more but less than ten thousand dollars.

4. Criminal damage is a class 6 felony if the person recklessly damages the property of another

in an amount of one thousand dollars or more but less than two thousand dollars.

5. Criminal damage is a class 1 misdemeanor if the person recklessly damages property of another in an amount of more than two hundred fifty dollars but less than one thousand dollars.

6. In all other cases criminal damage is a class 2 misdemeanor.

Phoenix Ho-Ho-Homes Not Jails.

Was hoping to make a cool Christmas card for my friends while down on W. Washington early this morning, on the public sidewalk right outside of Phoenix City Hall. Experienced some chalkus interruptus, however, so this was about the best I could pull off...

I did get some pretty good cop-watching footage, at least. And the nice Phoenix Police officer (he was really very gentle while restraining me) who placed me in "investigative detention" went ahead and filed a complaint for the "Graffitti Detectives" to investigate and determine if charges should be pursued, which is a good thing.

I could have easily cleaned that up and avoided the possibility of prosecution, but I'm tired of the confusion and harassment. I have the cards of detectives who have given me their blessings, but my safety and liberty are too often at the whim of each cop who has a different idea of what "criminal damage" constitutes. I'll fight it out in court.

Note that I switched out my cowboy hat for an elf cap this week, in keeping with the holiday spirit. I think that's why I was in cuffs while being questioned - my mental status was being assessed. Both the costume and the message (and my occasional chuckling to myself) seemed to alarm the police more than the potential that I was actually being destructive.

I was a little worried when we headed towards the car, but his handcuff key was hanging from the ring in the ignition - he was just getting ready to set me free.

Well, here you go - every picture tells a story, as they say...

Love and Power, to all my friends and comrades struggling to survive out there.

Sweet Solstice: Conspire, Phoenix.

God bless the Phoenix Anarchists
for giving me a canvas for my holiday cards this year...
Not a single cop harassed me :)

Sweet Solstice 2010: Homes Not Prisons.
Conspire Worker-owned Art Collective.
3-year birthday bash , Garfield St. Sidewalk Chalking.
December 10-12, 2010.

Ian the Vedge's dog, "Kitchen"

Sweet Solstice Children: Sophia and Rain

Sweet Solstice/Sweet Justice: Hot Tea.

Free Oso Blanco!
Free All Political Prisoners!!!

Love and Power to all out there.

Be safe and well,
and forever young and free -

Peg

Sorry to be so late on this (yes, I'm back-posting) -
I've just been busy mailing hard copies to prisoners and other friends...

Bury my Heart in an AHCCCS Patient

I felt strong enough for the first time in weeks to go out chalking today, so headed up to the Capitol Complex and Wes Bolin Park, one of my favorite spots to practice my free speech (That's 17th Ave I'm on, between W. Washington and W. Jefferson, right across the street from the legislators and governor's office buildings. The media and visitors and legislative aides all cross that sidewalk from the parking lot to get over there).





















Kids were all over the place singing Christmas Carols, and naturally curious about what I was writing about. So I told them about the people who are so sick that their insurance plans wouldn't cover their most critical medical treatment, and how they needed the state to pay their medical bills through the AHCCCS program - which the Arizona republican governor and legislature, the ultimate compassionate conservatives, decided isn't going to pay for their organ transplants anymore.



Then I told the kids that if Governor Brewer doesn't restore that funding, those people will die. I even named some of them: Coach Tiffany Tate, a cystic fibrosis patient who needs a double lung transplant, Randy Shepherd, a father of 3 who needs a heart transplant, and Francisco Felix, a survivor - so far - of the deadly damage of Hepatitis C. His dying family friend even tried to give him her liver, but AHCCCS still wouldn't pay for the transplant.


I didn't mention "Death Panels" to the kids, though - I thought what I told them was heavy enough already.


In the meantime, someone called the Capitol Police on me ( they always do), assuming that what I was doing was a crime. They all know my name now, but wanted to see some ID anyway - and tried to convince me that my conduct was, in fact, against the law - they just weren't going to arrest me because I was technically in the territory of the Phoenix Police.

One of the guys was actually pretty nice about trying to intimidate me in to leaving (not this one above - he was really hostile to me when I was caught alone by him on Halloween night). I was actually pretty much done for the day, but stayed long enough to argue with the cops that not only was my mode of expression not criminal (I keep it on the ground and on city sidewalks), but that the vigor with which the state solicits the poor to harvest our organs upon our death, while justifying why we or our loved ones aren't deserving of receiving transplants in life is truly criminal.


They didn't put up much of a fight on that one.

Here's the finished product - not the greatest picture, but you get the gist...

I signed it "future organ donor against Brewercare."

Happy World Human Rights Day