The Las Vegas IWW at May Day

The Las Vegas Industrial Workers of the World will be holding our official monthly meeting on Saturday, May 4th at 4pm at the Sunrise Coffee shop on Sunset between Eastern and Pecos (see below for map). Among other things, we will be celebrating and reminiscing about the recently concluded May Day march.

Despite some initial misgivings about some outside organizations attempting to exploit the International Day of the Worker for their own misguided purposes, this years May Day turned out great and there was an impressive visible turnout by Las Vegas’ IWW crew. Everyone that was there and helped to hold the ground for the true spirit of May Day deserves an enormous pat on the back.

We also will be discussing and finalizing our official bylaws, and potentially electing a treasurer, delegates, and other necessary positions for our branch to be certified as an official GMB along with other formalities such as when we will officially meet, on what days, how long meeting should last and other related issues.

This meeting is an open meeting and can be attended by the general public. Prospective members and those wishing to find out more about the IWW are welcome to attend, but will not be able to participate directly in any decisions or votes that might take place.

What is the IWW?:

The IWW is a member-run union for all workers, a union dedicated to organizing on the job, in our industries and in our communities. IWW members are organizing to win better conditions today and build a world with economic democracy tomorrow. We want our workplaces run for the benefit of workers and communities rather than for a handful of bosses and executives.

We are the Industrial Workers of the World because we organize industrially. This means we organize all workers producing the same goods or providing the same services into one union, rather than dividing workers by skill or trade, so we can pool our strength to win our demands together. Since the IWW was founded in 1905, we have made significant contributions to the labor struggles around the world and have a proud tradition of organizing across gender, ethnic and racial lines long before such organizing was popular.

For more info visit: IWW.org

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Salvador Zamora has been on a hunger strike for 21 days (as of April 30th) in front of the las Vegas Federal Courthouse demanding true immigration reforms

Salvador Zamora has been conducting a hunger strike across the street from the federal courthouse in Las Vegas for 21 days (as of 4-30) demanding genuine immigration reform. To honor what he is doing and because it is the spirit of May Day, the true worker’s holiday, I will be joining him in solidarity to support and help bring attention to his cause and would like to invite others to join me.

Find out more info either on FaceBook here: May Day Solidarity Rally event or on our Meetup group here: Las Vegas Anarchy Meetup May Day Solidarity Rally.

Unfortunately, this is very short notice due to the fact that I didn’t even know he was doing this until I happened to walk past and see him. While he has received some coverage from the local Spanish language media, none of the other local media has even mentioned it at all. Personally, I’m pretty hard pressed to understand how a guy going without food for over three weeks (and counting) isn’t newsworthy, regardless of the reasons.

Although it isn’t actually required to participate in the rally, I will be fasting for 24 hours beginning at midnight once May Day officially starts to show my support for his own sacrifice.

There is no “official” start time, although I’ll be going down there in the morning and spending the day with Salvador. You are welcome to come at whatever time is convenient for you.

There will also be an official, albeit really sanitized and docile, May Day parade hosted by local unions and politicians beginning around 4 o’clock at the federal courthouse that you may or may not want to take part in. If so, you could just show up a bit early to show Salvador some support.

I hope to see you there.

We’ll be meeting up at 8:00am in order to organize together and go over the specifics of what we will be doing to bring attention to Stanley’s murder. It’s incredibly important for anyone that cares about justice and supports accountability for police that commit crimes against people within the Las Vegas community to be there and make their voice heard for past victims of police violence and to prevent future innocent victims.

In spite of the long-winded name change, the new process that was created by LVMPD’s Sheriff Gillespie and Chris Collins of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association (Police Union) is designed to do anything but allow the public to find facts. The reality is that it is much worse than the original, much maligned, Coroner’s Inquest system that it will be replacing.

Unlike the Coroner’s Inquest, the Police Fatality Review will involve no opportunity for testimony from witnesses and only voluntary testimony by the police involved in the shootings, which the LVPPA has already gone on record as saying that pretty much has no chance of happening. What it amounts to is a choreographed staging of the police department’s version of events with zero representation from a genuine neutral party, the victim’s family, or independent witnesses.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson actually referred to it as a “performance,” while endorsing it, during the Commissioner’s meeting in which it was initially proposed. That’s just how much of a blatant and callous cover up the Police Fatality Review is.

The first case to go before this Police Fatality Review involves the murder of Stanley Gibson, an unarmed man who was shot seven times by Jesus Arevalo in spite of having committed no actual crime and having had his vehicle blocked in by several police cars so that it was unable to move.

Stanley, a disabled veteran, who was lost and suffering a panic attack as a result of PTSD and other ailments he suffered during his time in the Persian Gulf, represented no direct or imminent probability of harming anyone at the time.

There was no reason for any of the dozens of heavily armed police to feel in any way threatened by him. And the fact that of all those cops there, only Jesus Arevalo felt the need to fire the shots that killed Stanley Gibson only supports that conclusion.

Instead of holding someone that at best was grossly negligent that night accountable for his actions, D.A. Wolfson, Sheriff Gillespie, LVPPA’s Chris Collins, the Clark County Board of Commissioners, and every other member of the LV Metro Police Department are closing ranks around him in a misguided attempt to cover up yet another officer involved shooting under what could only mildly be called questionable circumstances.

Anyone living in Las Vegas should be well aware that there is a longstanding problem with brutality and outright murder by members of Las Vegas area police departments, especially those of the LVMPD. In several cases, especially those involving Stanley Gibson, Erik Scott, Trevon Cole, Henry Rowe, and Rafael Olivas, the circumstances behind the shooting have been incredibly questionable, if not completely inexcusable.

The obvious reason for the mounting body count by local police is the fact that no Las Vegas area police officer has EVER been held accountable for shooting someone, no matter how questionable that shooting has been.

Replacing what was already a terribly flawed system with one that not only retains those flaws, but incorporates even less transparency and can only be seen as a conscious effort to ensure the police never have to fear being held accountable for deaths they cause not only doesn’t address this problem, but in reality actually makes it harder for the police to do the things they are supposed to do by creating a lack of trust and discouraging any support for police from the people living within the community that they work.

It’s a self-perpetuating downward spiral that only exacerbates an already toxic and often violent relationship. The time to put an end to this has already passed and things can only get worse at this point if the transparency and accountability that Sheriff Gillespie promises so often isn’t actually upheld truthfully and with honest intentions.

As of right now, I have been unable to find any info regarding the specifics of the expected length of the kangaroo court that will begin Thursday or restrictions on public entry into the chambers where it will be held. Although, I suspect this lack of information is intentional, if I do come across that information I will post it here.

Reduce Violence, Disarm the Police

This week, the Anarchist Cafe will be part of a special event, hosted by Nevada Cop Block, which will focus on bringing accountability to Las Vegas area police.

This will be an informational and organizing meeting regarding issues with police brutality, lack of accountability, and official corruption. In addition, there will be discussion about setting up regular actions based around bringing attention to and addressing those issues.

Methods, goals, and acceptable outcomes will all be discussed. Also, information about how to get involved with local police “watchdog” groups, such as Nevada Cop Block (NVCopBlock.org), will be provided for those wanting to become more involved on an ongoing basis.

The Las Vegas Anarchist Cafe meets Saturdays, from 6:00—8:00pm, at Sunrise Coffee Shop, which is located on Sunset Rd. between Pecos and Eastern. The A-Cafe is not a place, it’s an event–a social experiment in urban anarchy, organized by the Southern Nevada Alliance of the Libertarian Left and a group of unaffiliated local anarchists. The A-Cafe is a forum for anarchists in the Las Vegas area to get to know each other, to hang out, to shoot the breeze, to talk some shop, to talk about the projects that we are working on, and to organize new projects. Anyone who’s an anarchist, anti-statist, or just anarchy-curious is invited to join us.

Drop in any time — the gathering is informal, and based on chatting and sharing information. There isn’t a fixed agenda. (But if you want to set up an organizing meeting for a particular project with a fixed agenda, A-Cafe is a great place to meet people to invite.) Feel free to drop in at any time and leave whenever you need to.

Bring yourself. Bring a friend. And bring anything — ideas you’ve had, projects you’re working on, literature, zines, flyers, art, whatever — that you’d like to share with some like-minded people.

Plus, just prior to the A-Cafe, the Las Vegas Industrial Workers of the World will be holding our first official monthly meeting on Saturday, February 2nd at 4pm. We will be discussing and finalizing our official bylaws (view text file here), and will also be electing a treasurer, delegates, and other necessary positions for our branch to be certified as an official GMB. In addition, we will decide how often to formally meet, on what days, how long meeting should last and other related issues.

This meeting is an open meeting and can be attended by the general public. Prospective members and those wishing to find out more about the IWW are welcome to attend, but will not be able to participate directly in any decisions or votes that might take place.

What is the IWW?:

The IWW is a member-run union for all workers, a union dedicated to organizing on the job, in our industries and in our communities. IWW members are organizing to win better conditions today and build a world with economic democracy tomorrow. We want our workplaces run for the benefit of workers and communities rather than for a handful of bosses and executives.

We are the Industrial Workers of the World because we organize industrially.

This means we organize all workers producing the same goods or providing the same services into one union, rather than dividing workers by skill or trade, so we can pool our strength to win our demands together. Since the IWW was founded in 1905, we have made significant contributions to the labor struggles around the world and have a proud tradition of organizing across gender, ethnic and racial lines long before such organizing was popular.

For more info visit: IWW.org

As part of the Idle No More movement‘s worldwide call for action Las Vegas activists will be joining members of the Moapa tribe of Paiutes to demand the closure of the outdated and environmentally disastrous Reid Gardner power plant operated by NV Energy.

The coal that fuels Reid Gardner is not only unnecessary with current technology, but more importantly, has been polluting the air over the skies of the Moapa tribe’s homes at their reservation, which is located alongside it.

Major health and breathing problems, as well as premature deaths (including dramatic increases in childhood mortality rates) among Moapa tribe members has been traced back to emissions from the plant. In addition, clouds of polluted air can be visually observed on the reservation.

We will be meeting at the offices of NVEnergy (on Sahara) at 4:00pm.

In the recent past Nevada Cop Block and assorted allies in the Las Vegas area have used chalking of strategically chosen public areas and government locations to bring attention to local issues. It’s proven to be a quick, easy, and effective way of making grievances known and ensuring visibility both by those being protested against and the public within the area.

After several recent despicable actions by local officials, NVCopBlock is once again planning to take it to the streets to show our disapproval. We’ll be meeting up at the Clark County Government Center, where County Commission meetings are held (for reasons explained below) and then moving from there to the LVMPD headquarters buildings, which are within walking distance of each other.

Signs are welcome, chalk will be used extensively at both locations, and creativity is always appreciated.

Among other things, District Attorney Steve Wolfson has continued his pattern of disdain for the safety of the residents of Las Vegas and the surrounding area by refusing to hold Jesus Arevalo accountable for the cold-blooded murder of Stanley Gibson.

Sheriff Gillespie of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has partnered with Wolfson and Chris Collins, of the Police Protective Association (police union), to ensure that such accountability will never be an option by pushing through a proposal that reversed all of the Coroner’s Inquest Reforms that had already been passed with the intention of creating a more fair and transparent process, which would actually lead to accountability for questionable shootings by police.

Finally, the Clark County Board of Commissioners lead by Steve Sisolak, Larry Brown, Susan Brager, and Mary Beth Scow voted to approve that proposal in spite of the fact that the new proposal is worse than the former Coroner’s inquest process that had functioned so poorly as to prompt an outcry for those reforms. This vote was taken during a commission meeting in which the inclusion of this proposal on the agenda was only announced a couple days earlier to ensure that public turnout would be limited.

And for good measure, Metro’s own Sgt. William Wilson illegally entered someone’s back yard and unnecessarily killed their pet dog last week.

We made it! Now what?

Now that we’ve officially survived the Mayan Apocalypse , it’s time to get together and celebrate the continued existence of the Las Vegas Anarchist Cafe.

Of course, there are plenty of serious issues to discuss this week among these are:

• The official announcement earlier this week that the grand jury set up to make sure Jesus Arevalo won’t ever be charged with the murder of Stanley Gibson has done just that. Why this was no surprise to those of us that have been following the case over the past year and what we plan to do in response…
• …The related issue of Coroner’s Inquest reforms that have already been approved several times and ruled constitutional (in response to police lawsuits) by the NV Supreme Court, but which are in danger of being overturned in favor of a completely meaningless dog and pony show that Sheriff Gillespie, LVPPA head Chris Collins, DA Steve Wolfson, and Commissioners Steve Sisolak and Larry Brown cooked up prior to the last Commission meeting. A vote between the two proposals is scheduled for the end of January.
• The Las Vegas Industrial Workers of the World and labor issues in general.
• The continuation of previous discussions concerning potential ideas for co-ops and other community based collaborations amongst members…
• …Related issues surrounding gentrification and corporate use of political ties to force local workers and small business owners out in order to replace them with other corporate raiders and their slave labor products. Of particular emphasis is Zappos’ efforts to sanitize and whitewash downtown.
• The so-called “Fiscal Cliff” and how newly r/elected politicians are expertly using it to justify going back on pretty much every promise they made just over one ago. Why it’s completely unsurprising and has in fact been predicted by most of the regular A-Cafe attendees. Also, why most of the general population will completely accept it, but how we should reach those that finally manage to pull that curtain back.
• And of course, whatever YOU want to discuss.

As usual, we generally have members of various local groups including Las Vegas Food Not Bombs, Nevada Cop Block (NVCopBlock.org), the Sunset Activist Collective, The Las Vegas Industrial Workers of the World, LVWORCS (co-op resources and support group), OccupyLV, and others in attendance. So, if you have an interest in getting involved in local activism, the A-Cafe is good place to connect with people already involved within the community.

The Las Vegas Anarchist Cafe meets Saturdays, from 6:00—8:00pm, at Sunrise Coffee Shop, which is located on Sunset Rd. between Pecos and Eastern. The A-Cafe is not a place, it’s an event–a social experiment in urban anarchy, organized by the Southern Nevada Alliance of the Libertarian Left and a group of unaffiliated local anarchists. The A-Cafe is a forum for anarchists in the Las Vegas area to get to know each other, to hang out, to shoot the breeze, to talk some shop, to talk about the projects that we are working on, and to organize new projects. Anyone who’s an anarchist, anti-statist, or just anarchy-curious is invited to join us.

Drop in any time — the gathering is informal, and based on chatting and sharing information. There isn’t a fixed agenda. (But if you want to set up an organizing meeting for a particular project with a fixed agenda, A-Cafe is a great place to meet people to invite.) Feel free to drop in at any time and leave whenever you need to.

Bring yourself. Bring a friend. And bring anything — ideas you’ve had, projects you’re working on, literature, zines, flyers, art, whatever — that you’d like to share with some like-minded people.

The End is near! You better get to the A-Cafe now while you still can!!

This will be the final A-Cafe held before the Mayan Apocalypse. So, we are going to be putting our plans onto the fast track and working on a five day plan to overthrow the world’s governments.

If you’ve been meaning to come but just haven’t made it yet or haven’t been in a while and want to catch up with old friends, you had better make it this week before it is too late. Even the regulars will want to be there to wish their fellow Anarchists farewell and good luck in the afterlife.

The Las Vegas Anarchist Cafe meets Saturdays, from 6:00—8:00pm, at Sunrise Coffee Shop, which is located on Sunset Rd. between Pecos and Eastern. The A-Cafe is not a place, it’s an event–a social experiment in urban anarchy, organized by the Southern Nevada Alliance of the Libertarian Left and a group of unaffiliated local anarchists. The A-Cafe is a forum for anarchists in the Las Vegas area to get to know each other, to hang out, to shoot the breeze, to talk some shop, to talk about the projects that we are working on, and to organize new projects. Anyone who’s an anarchist, anti-statist, or just anarchy-curious is invited to join us.

Drop in any time — the gathering is informal, and based on chatting and sharing information. There isn’t a fixed agenda. (But if you want to set up an organizing meeting for a particular project with a fixed agenda, A-Cafe is a great place to meet people to invite.) Feel free to drop in at any time and leave whenever you need to.

Bring yourself. Bring a friend. And bring anything — ideas you’ve had, projects you’re working on, literature, zines, flyers, art, whatever — that you’d like to share with some like-minded people.

We’re going to have a lot of things going on this week, none of which you should miss:

• We’ll be planning for a informational meeting of the Industrial Workers of the World on October 20th, which several Fellow Workers from other cities will be attending. This meeting will include basic introductory information about labor organizing and the IWW in particular with an emphasis on efforts to form a local General Membership Branch for Las Vegas area workers.
• As usual, we will be affording time for organizational topics relating to local mutual aid projects, such as Food Not Bombs.
• There will be a discussion about recent developments in the case of Stanley Gibson, who was murdered by Ofc. Jesus Arevalo, an employee of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, late last year. In a veiled attempt to avoid holding Arevalo accountable for his actions, District Attorney Steve Wolfson has submitted the case to a grand jury rather than issuing charge himself. Nevada Cop Block (NVCopBlock.org) is calling for an action to bring attention to this underhanded attempt to protect a murderer.
• Also, the Sunset Activist Collective will be spearheading several initiatives in the coming months, including a Black Friday counteraction and monthly rotating boycotts/awareness campaigns against targeted ALEC corporations.
• And, of course, anything you want to discuss or bring attention to.

The Las Vegas Anarchist Cafe meets Saturdays, from 6:00—8:00pm, at Sunrise Coffee Shop, which is located on Sunset Rd. between Pecos and Eastern. The A-Cafe is not a place, it’s an event–a social experiment in urban anarchy, organized by the Southern Nevada Alliance of the Libertarian Left and a group of unaffiliated local anarchists. The A-Cafe is a forum for anarchists in the Las Vegas area to get to know each other, to hang out, to shoot the breeze, to talk some shop, to talk about the projects that we are working on, and to organize new projects. Anyone who’s an anarchist, anti-statist, or just anarchy-curious is invited to join us.

Drop in any time — the gathering is informal, and based on chatting and sharing information. There isn’t a fixed agenda. (But if you want to set up an organizing meeting for a particular project with a fixed agenda, A-Cafe is a great place to meet people to invite.) Feel free to drop in at any time and leave whenever you need to.

Bring yourself. Bring a friend. And bring anything — ideas you’ve had, projects you’re working on, literature, zines, flyers, art, whatever — that you’d like to share with some like-minded people.