Farmin' in South Central

[Last night PBS-KVIE aired a "stirring" Independent Lens documentary called The Real Dirt on Farmer John; think we don't need our farms]

Los Angeles - 15 Jun 2006
Los Angeles Police Forcibly Evict and Bulldoze the South Central Farm

Despite widespread popular resistance, including years of struggle against the city and developers on the part of farmers, a three-week old occupation and treesit, a successful effort to raise millions of dollars in order to try to buy the land on which the farm stood - a bid which was ultimately rejected, and a day full of nonviolent civil disobedience including lockdowns and blockades, the largest urban farm in the United States was evicted on the morning of June 13th.

The farm, which had been started on property taken from developers under eminent domain laws after the 1992 popular uprising following the videotaped police beating of Rodney King, and which provided healthy food for over three hundred and fifty families as well as an ecologically sustainable model for building urban economy and community with dignity in the midst of poverty, was destroyed by bulldozers today to make way for the construction of commercial warehouses serving the (activists speculate that Wal-Mart maybe the primary intended beneficiary.)

Los Angeles Indymedia is reporting that at least 45 people have been (in many cases violently) arrested while defending the farm from re-enclosure and destruction.

—Indymedia.org

After seeing The Real Dirt on Farmer John, and getting in touch with "my inner earth," I'll be rooting for those tree-sitters next time. And always a fan of Daryl Hannah!

Reporting from the underground...

Stan Morris

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