<nettime> Queer "Settlers" Land on Berkeley Starbucks

[JSalloum@aol.com]

Queer "Settlers" Land on Berkeley Starbucks,
Analogy to Israeli Colonists

> >>> 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 caf? "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 caf? were surprisingly unruffled
> >>> as the Queer Defense Forces entered the caf?
> >>> 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 caf? 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@yahoo.com
> >>>
>> >> Mughir Al Hindi

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