Re: RCNV terminates Infoshop's lease

What a bunch of nonsense. The Resource Center for Nonviolence and Bob Fitch should be thanked for taking a chance on an a project with no proven history or track record. The previous infoshop project, the Rhyzone, lasted a year, but it only took 4 months for the current dysfunctional collective to wear out its welcome. This definitely says something about the current "lifestyle" anarchists who apparently did everything possible to alienate their fellow tenants. If the collective had made an ongoing effort to get along with the other tenants of 509 Broadway, especially while just starting out, they would most likely still have access to the space. Instead, we've been treated to a verbal trashing of the other tenants, immature whining about how abusive everybody is being towards them, no indication of any internal process or efforts to deal with problems that arose, and an ongoing campaign to vilify the RCNV and Bob Fitch in particular. It defies imagination to suggest that Fitch and RCNV suddenly, on some unexplained whim, decided to oust the infoshop for no valid reason. RCNV's and Fitch's history suggest the exact opposite. Bob Fitch is a long time activist, working for and with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Cesar Chavez, and continues his movement work today. And for over TWENTY YEARS, RCNV's track record in dealing above board and honestly with ALL their tenants is above dispute. More importantly, the RCNV has welcomed radical projects using their space. Art&Revolution, Copwatch, Santa Cruz Indymedia, Earth First! (who previously were in the exact space the infoshop currently occupies) and various direct action groups, either currently or in the past, have based their work there.

I challenge the infoshop collective (or their supporters) to get ANY statement of solidarity for their activities from ANY of the current tenants at 509 Broadway. I doubt if they could. Remember these tenants were already there before the infoshop arrived, and certainly deserved some consideration and respect for their ongoing activities. Instead the infoshop collective wants to demonize the tenants, the RCNV, and Bob Fitch, for problems that were caused by the infoshop's OWN behavior.

Instead of actually dealing with the numerous complaints communicated to the leaseholder, or at least attempting to find out what had gone wrong with their own internal communication dynamics (regarding their claim of ignorance about any complaints), the infoshop collective treats us to a press release full of innuendo, hearsay and inaccurate second hand information, which they then disseminate all over the internet and to numerous local news outlets. In my estimation, this act alone has obliterated any goodwill folks may have felt toward the project or any chance of it continuing in the same space. This disinformation was unfortunately then featured on SC-Indymedia's site, which thereby propelled it onto the main Indymedia.org site, giving it world-wide distribution. Additionally, the site infoshop.org published the release on their site and it has generated some pretty ugly comments about how violence and vandalism should now be employed against the RCNV and its staff in revenge for their perceived "crimes" against the infoshop collective. (I include these comments at the end of this post.) It would certainly be a tragedy if the immature actions of a bunch of "so-called" anarchists caused any harm to a valuable project like RCNV or any of the individuals on the staff or those who reside there as tenants. Any actions of this sort would indefinitely postpone any future infoshop project in Santa Cruz, and cause irreparable harm to the radical projects currently welcomed by the RCNV.

And regarding the "smell" issue. I notice that the infoshop collective is not claiming that "smell" problems didn't exist. How could they deny this given the DUMPSTER-DIVING milieu some of them live in? Of course some of them SMELL... Instead of acknowledging this as a problem, they instead resort to demonization again. A more appropriate action would have been to come up with a policy similar to those employed at events that are declared "odor free" or "perfume free" due to some folks environmental sensitivities. I'm sure this situation did nothing to endear the collective to the other tenants, nor did it contribute to helping the RCNV rent any existing vacancies.

Additionally, the rental agreement for the infoshop space is/was between a single individual and RCNV. This arrangement was no doubt problematic to all parties concerned. The infoshop collective, instead of launching hysterical attacks on inappropriate targets, would be better served by examining what factors led to the implosion of their internal cohesion, which apparently is the underlying cause of all their problems.

Santa Cruz is in need of a solid anarchist project. While I'm disappointed at yet another infoshop failure, I take heart that anarchist-oriented projects such as Free Radio Santa Cruz, Ped-Ex, Sacred Grove, Food Not Bombs, etc. are established and respected. A new infoshop collective needs to form, sum up the mistakes of the last two efforts without blaming others for their own internal failures, and keep moving forward towards a sustainable project.

I'll end with a comment also posted on the infoshop.org site, with which I agree:

"It is a struggle to keep these spaces open, but it's not that hard. Frankly, I'm baffled as to why many spaces have such a hard time staying open. I think that one thing we need to focus on is broadening community support for our infoshops. By community, I'm not talking about people in your city or town who listen to punk music. We need to create spaces that are welcoming to people from all walks of life. If your 'infoshop' looks, feels, and smells like a punk rock clubhouse, I don't give a fuck if the damn thing closes."
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QUOTES FROM COMMENTS ON INFOSHOP.ORG
www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php

-- happiness is hanging your landlord!

-- Fucking liberals.

-- Totally fuck their shit up and try and legally and /or physically block them every step of the way. I mean we're fuckin' anarchists here, right? We shouldn't let some goddamn candy-ass liberals and their stooge landlord get in our way.

-- it would be a shame if somebody trashed the place or covered the place in shit. Hows that for smells Bobby Boy u fuckin wanker!

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