Bay of Rage

The only possible response to the antinomies of anti-austerity politics – which breakdown all too often into a fight between anti-tax and pro-welfare populisms – is to say that if we had direct, immediate access to such things, we would need neither state provision nor its powers of taxation. Only when capital is a natural, unsurpassable horizon does this appear as a real problem.

Keep eyes and hands turned toward Bay of Rage in months to come.

[In addition, for those who haven't been following, this is the sword hanging over Oakland's libraries:

The Mayor’s fiscal year 2011-13 Proposed Budget has three scenarios. Scenario A is the “All Cuts Budget” and is the one that fundamentally affects the Library and its services. It indicates a fiscal year 2011-12 General Fund appropriation for the Library of about $3.6 million and no money from Measure Q.
Measure Q was placed on the ballot by the City Council in 2003 for the collection of a special parcel tax for the library, which in 2010-11, will raise just under $14 million annually, and, to raise those funds, the city is required to fund the library in the amount of about $9 million out of the general fund.
Under Scenario A, the following services will be cut:

• 13 branch libraries are scheduled to close: Asian, Brookfield, Chavez, Eastmont, Elmhurst, Golden Gate, Lakeview, Martin Luther King, Melrose, Montclair, Piedmont Avenue, Temescal, West Oakland
• 4 remaining libraries – Main, Rockridge, Dimond, and 81st Avenue – would only be open 3 days a week
• Main Library will close its Children’s Room, Teen Zone, and Oakland History Room
• The Tool Lending Library and the African-American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO) will close
• Second Start Adult Literacy will close
• Limited funding for new books, DVDs or other materials purchased
• Discontinuation of electronic services like downloadable books and databases

That's right, thirteen libraries.  The reduction of an entire library system for a 400,000 person city to 4 libraries open 3 days a week.  Sometimes when we speak about class war, we're accused of being dramatic.  Those are often the same people who think that the poor just need to work harder and educate themselves, and that those who oppose the current order need to learn their history.  Oh, you mean in places like libraries, respectively in a "Children's Room" and "Teen Zone" or in a "History Room"?

This coming Friday:

Friday, June 3, 7 pm – Silent funeral procession for the library, starts at 20th St. and Broadway. Bring a library book and wear all black to mourn the potential loss of Oakland’s library services.

followed by

Oakland: Friday June 3, during Art Murmur
- Gather at 7:30, Broadway @ Telegraph
- Guerrilla Film Screening at 9:30 following march