(spread the word)
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Resistance From The Tropics
a south florida invitation to insurgence
Almost 500 years ago European colonizers landed in Florida, becoming its first coastal land speculators.
It would be another 300 years before they were able to
penetrate the wild swamp and the fierce rebellion that
lived in it’s core. Today, a new kind of conquest is
spreading across our beaches, wetlands and cities. Its impact is not only a threat to this peninsula, but to
the entire hemisphere and the future of life on this planet...
‘Gateway of the Americas’
Once again, a plague of rabid investors are descending on South Florida. Free trade and biotechnology are dropping anchor in this region, hoping to gain a permanent stronghold for global corporate expansion. If they succeed, for example, in achieving a permanent headquarters for the FTAA in Miami or in allowing the Scripps Research Institute to open a new, enormous ‘biotech cluster’ in Palm Beach County, the world’s population will feel the strain of the market fortifying itself against public interests. It would tighten the grasp of globalization and U.S. Empire around all of us, increasing the pressure of corporate control over food,
medicine, basic services and nature. But if they fail, global capitalism could stumble significantly, alleviating that potential weight off of millions of people and ecosystems, sending a loud message that even within
the heart-of-the-beast, resistance is alive.
‘Where the Tropics Begin’
The protection of this tropical/subtropical bioregion is of global importance. The southern end of Florida has been considered a part of the Caribbean ‘Hotspot,’ which, along with Madagascar and the Philippines, is one of the three most unique, diverse and severely threatened regions of
their size on the planet.* South Florida can also be seen as a type of social hotspot, where displaced people from across the western hemisphere have come, the major cause being dispossession from their home towns and rural communities. Unfortunately, both social and ecological diversity are in the crosshairs of a realtor’s rifle as gentrification and sprawl in South Florida crush wild nature and urban communities here at an unparalleled rate. Entire low-income neighborhoods are bulldozed for
Florida’s yuppie housing boom, wetlands and scrub habitat destroyed for luxury housing; the scale and pace of the destruction is daunting, completely overwhelming at times. Yet, it is often in these times of urgency and desperation that radical perspectives have a chance to surface
and ignite.
This bioregion is in need of another wave of grassroots rebellion.
Now is a time that Florida needs visionaries, especially those who have some roots in the peninsula, to come and fight with us, at this crucial moment on the planet, for this strange and amazing place...
Wanna help? get in touch: anacardiaceae collective PO Box 961 Lake Worth,
FL 33460 (561) 547-6686
Join the resistance to corporate expansion in South Florida this Fall/Winter
Activists in South Florida are looking for your support in radical community organizing and direct action planning. There is a small core of us-a couple of autonomous collectives and grassroots organizations-but we are searching out more folks, for short and long term, who are able to pitch in. Along with resistance to the biotech/free trade/gentrification/sprawl mentioned above, there are also lots of opportunities to work on a wide range of issues and projects, like: immigrant and indigenous solidarity; anti-racist, pro-queer, pro-feminist activism; independent media and micro-radio; community gardening and free food distribution; anarchist lending-library and literature distro; bicycle repair, bio-diesel and other types of DIY sustainable energy
projects…
Did we mention beaches and tropical fruit dripping from trees?
Converge for an action, stay for the season; collect coconuts and avocados; gather support for the movement; spread the word about the tropical insurgence.
A few dates for upcoming events:
October 24th-25th 2005: Luddite Film Fest (coinciding with the BioFlorida Conference; Delray Beach, Florida. Looking for film submissions and suggestions)
November 11th-15th 2005: Pollinators’ Gathering: a folk science skill-share (coinciding with Scripps’ International Biotech Conference in Palm Beach)
Mid February 2006: Bringin’ the Heat: Action Camp (at the Corbett Wildlife Management Area, details TBA)
For more info, contact: anacardiaceae collective
PO Box 961 Lake Worth, FL 33460 (561) 547-6686
www.freelakeworth.com/Media/downwardmobility/downwardmobility.htm
-some folks to check out down here who are fighting
corporate greed from the grassroots: scrapscripps.com,
miamiworkerscenter.org, poweru.org, ciw-online.org, sfalliance.org,
-follow some current events in south FL:
www.IMCmiami.org
-learn more about those plotting the destruction of south FL (and the rest of the world): eflorida.com, floridaFTAA.org, bdb.org, browardalliance.org, beaconcouncil.com, scripps.edu
Understand the history of colonization, development and resistance in Florida, read:
Everglades: River of Grass by Marjory Stoneman Douglas,
Black Miami in the Twentieth Century by Marvin Dunn;
To get inspired to kick some greedy, racist developer’s ass, read anything by Carl Hiaasen.
*A Word on ‘Hotspot Theory’: civilization’s war on the wild and on land-based communities has taken a toll that is quite possibly beyond our comprehension. But in the last 15 years, ecologists have made the task of defending biodiversity, and thus planetary survival, more 'approachable’ by demonstrating that we can conserve a major share of terrestrial biodiversity in a relatively small portion of the planet. An analysis carried out between 1996 and 1998 resulted in a list of 25 hotspots, which are under frequent discussion and re-evaluation.
