Liza
> From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
> Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 17:22:36 -0400
> To: lbo-talk <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
> Subject: queer settlers claim Starbucks
>
> [is this true?]
>
> Queer 'Settlers' Land on Berkeley Starbucks
> Analogy to Israeli Colonists
>
> by QUIT
> QUIT
> August 20, 2002
>
> ACTIVISM
> About 25 queer settlers descended on a downtown Berkeley Starbucks on
> Saturday, August 17, claiming Berkeley as "a city without people for people
> without a city." The group, organized by Queers Undermining Israeli
> Terrorism (QUIT!), posted a banner proclaiming the reclaimed cafe
> "Queerkeley - A Prophecy Fulfilled."
>
> They also erected homes (transformed "Palestinian civilian homes reclaimed
> from another street theatre action), lawn furniture, and signs reading, "It
> Works In Palestine, Why Not Here?" and "It's Ours Because We Say So." They
> erected plastic palm trees to "make the concrete bloom," and gave patrons a
> tract explaining their religious claim to the land as follows:
>
> "Land of fruits and nuts .
>
> "And the Lord saw that the queer people were harried in this land. And the
> Lord spake onto the prophet Harvey, "You will lead your people across the
> wide waters unto a new land." Harvey was fearful, and he cried to the Lord,
> "How will we cross the wide waters? For they are cold, and they are filled
> with all manner of hazardous substances and raw sewage and other
> pollutants." And the Lord responded, "fear not, Harvey, for a great bridge
> will be built, and the people will cross into this land. And this land will
> be called Berkeley. I say, Lo, I have promised the land of Berkeley to the
> lesbians and to the gays, and to the bisexuals, and to the transgenders and
> to the intersexed, and to all of the gender variant peoples. And this land
> shall be blessed with fruits and nuts, unto 50 genderations."
>
> - Book of Reclamations and Realty, 4.0
>
> The group selected Starbucks for the location of their first settlement in
> Berkeley because Starbucks founder and CEO, Howard Shultz, is a major
> supporter of the Israeli state and the corporation has become the prime
> target of an international boycott of corporations with ties to Israel
> (www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-israel.html). "Since Mr. Shultz clearly believes
> it is okay for one group of people to grab land belonging to another and
> say they have a right to it, we figure he won't mind if we take some of
> his," a QUIT leaflet explains.
>
> Workers in the cafe were surprisingly unruffled as the Queer Defense Forces
> entered the cafe and announced over a loudspeaker that the land had been
> confiscated by the Queer National Fund and curfew for straights would begin
> in five minutes. Several "patrons" were forcibly ejected from the cafe by
> means of SuperSoakers (which were especially popular with a three-year-old
> settler).
>
> Many coffee drinkers quickly cleared out, but one group of chess players
> steadfastly ignored the group, who vow to set up more settlements in the
> coming months.
>
> For more information or a full copy of "QueerNation Berkeley - God's
> Prophecy Fulfilled," contact QUIT! quitpalestine at yahoo.com
>
>