Florida: Anarchist For Mayor in Lake Worth?
Sunday, February 20 2005 @ 12:01 PM CST
Contributed by: Anonymous
Views: 1,454
Lake Worth, FL- February 16th 2005-
Community activist, panagioti e. tsolkas, will begin campaigning this week for Mayor of Lake Worth. Although well-known locally for slandering realtors, developers, and politicians, confrontation is only part of his strategy. A focus of the campaign will be on promoting skills for increased self-sufficiency, sustainability and community interdependence- what global social movements, such as the Zapatistas of Chiapas, Mexico have called building autonomy.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: whenever
ANARCHY IN LAKE WORTH!?!Mayoral candidate runs campaign to expose developers’ greed and promote community autonomy
Lake Worth, FL- February 16th 2005- Community activist, panagioti e. tsolkas, will begin campaigning this week for Mayor of Lake Worth. Although well-known locally for slandering realtors, developers, and politicians, confrontation is only part of his strategy. A focus of the campaign will be on promoting skills for increased self-sufficiency, sustainability and community interdependence- what global social movements, such as the Zapatistas of Chiapas, Mexico have called building autonomy.
“I have no intention of being a politician- I’m not a good enough liar, I don’t claim to represent anyone else’s agenda and I can hardly stomach being in the room with realtors and developers,” writes panagioti, “but if I can spread ideas that help take decision making power out of the hands of the local elite and inspire folks to take control over their own neighborhoods… then we could get things done- no politicians required!” Panagioti is suggesting to residents that we scrap the entire police force and code enforcement team. In fact,he is suggesting to residents that the city even take steps to distance itself from centralized governments and capitalist economies altogether.
“The façade of order and control imposed by those institutions has crippled our sense of responsibility to our communities and our instinctive tendency to take care of each other. For example, the real estate front group Lake Worth Alliance for Progress and Preservation best exemplifies the forces that are guiding Lake Worth- they have placed a seriously disproportionate priority on increasing property values and expanding the tax base, claiming that the trickle-down from more tax is the best way to meet residents’ needs. But that is the leading myth driving the ‘dictatorship of the developers’ in South Florida. If those folks really cared about people’s needs over property values, there wouldn’t be the conflict that is growing so fast in Lake Worth, and in many other cities across South Florida. We need to break from that tired old mentality of tax and charity/law and order, so we can start making space for creative solutions to the crisis situations we have come to tolerate as inevitable growing pains: from the glaring problems of gentrification, privatizing public space, overdevelopment, traffic and infrastructure strains, to the less visible pollution, malnutrition, slumlords, gang violence and domestic abuse.”
For details on how some of these changes would look in practice, check out two documents: (1) What A Free Lake Worth Might Look Like and (2) Downward Mobility 11 Point Plan, available on http://www.downwardmobilitylw.org/ Call (561) 547-6686 for printed versions (Spanish translations are also available.)
So what does anarchy have to do with it? Anarchy is defined most simply as the absence of authority and coercion. Re-stated in the positive- it can be described simply as the presence of organic, mutual relationships between all things. Although it can’t be lumped easily within an ideological box, lots of people throughout recent history have used anarchist theory to explain their participation in social movements favoring equality, cooperation, generosity and respect for the environment.
“Labor justice, civil rights, women’s liberation, anti-fascism, land reform, immigrant solidarity, ecology, and anti-nuclear movements; revolutions and rebellions against dictatorships, monarchies and colonial powers… All have had anarchists play major roles throughout them- maybe Central Palm Beach County will be ground zero for the next global upheaval. Why the hell not?”
Panagioti is available for interviews. Please give ample prior notice. He will be present at local candidate’s forums and will be coordinating a public event on the weekend of March 5th. Details TBA.
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Hey, folks… This is a Bio for panagioti e. tsolkas, runnin’ for Mayor of the city currently known as Lake Worth. I have no professional resume, but I’ll offer some background info and the campaign platform, press release etc.
I’m 24 years old, was born in Framingham, Massachusetts to an upwardly mobile Greek immigrant family. My mom’s parents were kinda of hillbilly-types from Sparti. Her father fought with the communist guerillas in the civil war after WW2, he likes to make his own wine from his own grapes and drink A LOT of it. My dad’s folks are from Kalamata. His father fought for the State military and supported the Greek monarchy. My own father preferred the CIA imposed dictatorship, since it seemed to allow for more financial opportunities that than the looming prospect of commie takeover. My memories of both grandmothers usually have something to do with them chasing chickens, milking goats, collecting dandelions, cooking rabbit, etc. Most of my extended family live on the same block in Kalamata in houses that would never pass a code inspection in Lake Worth. My parents moved to the Tampa area when I was four years old.
I have worked odd jobs most of my working life: telemarketing, cashier, painting, random day labor, consumer research and medical studies, busking (street performance), stripping, small press book distribution, gardening, childcare, and art modeling. I got kicked out of East Lake High School… twice (once for protesting the FCAT) and never looked back to institutional education. I traveled on and off for several years, hitchhiking and riding freight trains across the country and learning the tools and tactics of radical, grassroots activism. I chased around a person I had fallen in love with and it landed me in Lake Worth about 5 years ago.
Rumor has it that I live off a trust fund. I heard the rumor was started by the former Mayor and current Chamber of Commerce stooge Tom Ramiccio. It’s not true. I live on a very low budget, eat a lot of food out of the trash and share financial responsibilities with a group of friends. Anyone interested in the details of my finances can take me out to dinner and I’ll tell you all about ‘em.
My perspectives on local/global issues are expressed pretty thoroughly in the attached documents.
I volunteer time to various local projects and organizations, such as: Chief Sitting Bull Community Organic Garden, Palm Beach Global Justice Group, PBC/TC Stop FTAA Coalition, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, Palm Beach County 4-Hand, Taking Aim: Anarchist Media Collective, Dorothy Day Food Distribution, Arts For Everyone, and PBC Environmental Coalition. I have also been involved in Earth First!, a globally networked radical environmental movement, for near 7 nears. I was also recently selected to serve as an alternate member of the tree board of Lake Worth.
-panagioti e. tsolkas561 547-6686
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Downward Mobility Bike Tour a sobering and visionary cruise thru the streets of Lake Worth hosted by mayoral candidate panagioti e. tsolkas
Starts 4pm March 5th 2005
The Ride will begin on the Corner of 4th Avenue N and ‘A’ Street
featuring visits to the sites of some of Lake Worth’s most heated issues, an introduction to some amazing volunteer driven neighborhood projects, short talks from local activists, not to mention dinner and a movie (The movie will be a family friendly film shown at Chief Sitting Bull Community Organic Garden 7pm, please bring snacks and refreshments to share!)
price: spare change (all donation will go straight to the garden)
For more info: 547-6686
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Kick out the greedy developers,Dismantle the corrupt political structure,Find useful work for the local law enforcers,Throw the codebooks into the beach bonfire,Secede from the U.$. Empire,don’t expect real change from an election.Go do something helpful for your neighbor.Plant a couple fruiting trees or bushes.Take over an abandoned house…tell the bank and realtor that they can’t have it back,then open a free child care center there.
Lake Worth Downward Mobility 11 Point Plan
1) Name Change We don’t need to honor that greedy, racist, murderer, General William Jenkins Worth anymore. No treaties were ever signed for this land. It was stolen (as if land can be owned at all) and desecrated beyond our comprehension. A simple name change could be the start of a larger shift towards justice and accountability. Perhaps Jewel would work. That was what this area was known as, honoring the escaped slaves that squatted here before white real estate owners chopped up the land into parcels to be bought and sold.
2) Disband The Police Ok, it sounds a little scary to some of ya’ll, but in reality the police only succeed in stopping a very small portion of crime. It would probably take you a while to realize they were gone, except for maybe noticing the absence of that nervous anxiety every time you pass one of them. What these legal thugs have done quite efficiently is maintain serious social divisions. Without police to interfere, perhaps poor folks would stop robbing each other and instead steal from those who are hoarding too much stuff. In a new Lake Worth, we have no laws to protect your greed. Share what you have or risk losing it to someone who doesn’t have what they need. Seems like an easy decision to me.
3) Ditch Code Enforcement Much the same idea above applies to code officials. They only catch a handful of corrupt landlords. Most often they come down on homeowners and small-scale property owners, who then often take it out on their tenants. Where is the fairness, justice or law & order in that?! Let’s get rid of ‘em! Come on, let’s at least try it for a while. Maybe it will encourage neighbors to talk to each other instead of ratting on each other, and it would definitely stop those scum-bag realtors, like Bo Allen, from using his friends in Code to help him flip properties for the Pier Group.
4) Massive Overhaul of Priorities This one is a little more theoretical than it is practical, but there needs to be a very strong suggestion that we no longer strive to ‘keep up with the Joneses’. This community is blessed with the presence of immigrants, many torn from families to escape severe poverty or political repression. They should not be expected to keep up with this insane & materialistic society. No one should. On the contrary, we will seek advice from folks who have recent experience with living in land-based communities, especially in the Caribbean and Meso-American areas that have similar climates and seasons. Small-scale tropical agriculture and simple, more sustainable building techniques are often utilized in ‘less developed’ countries. Thatched roofs, backyard horticulture, composting toilets, rain catchment systems… Let’s figure out how we can incorporate those kinds of things into our city planning. (If you combine # 2 and #4, you get the “more chickens, less pigs” initiative)
5) Decentralization & Autonomy We let the city split up into functional neighborhood associations that do more than kiss ass at city commission meetings to get new landscape for their street medians. The goal is to strive towards community support networks for more self-reliance. Childcare cooperatives, food exchanges, tool/toy lending libraries, free bike/car repair shops. Mutual aid, solidarity, get the picture? (perhaps ‘neighborhood assembly’ is a better phrase- like what they used in Argentina, after the economic collapse of 2001. Remember that? no!? well then, go look it up already!)
6) Secede From The U.S. Government In opposition to war and terrorism, and for our own good, we should secede ASAP and make it clear to those being devastated by war and greed-based foreign policy that we do not support the regime of the U.S. Empire. [editor’s note: I actually don’t support the regime of any nation-state but I’m trying to be practical here, ok?] Your question- “What will we do after a disaster without FEMA?!” We may have more international aid than we know what to do with. Sorry if this is gonna burst anyone’s bubble, but the vast majority of the world despises the U.S.- ‘our country’ has set up military bases and corporate sweatshops around the globe. If we in Lake Worth were the first folks to take a bold step away from it, we may be surprised what kind of international support and encouragement we would find.
7) Cut Ties To Global Capitalism The so-called Free Market is killing the entire planet. As corrupt and power-hungry as governments may appear, they are often only the puppets to corporate interests. Free Trade agreements around the world are trying to deal the final blow to the last wild places and sustainable cultures left alive, but resistance has been creeping out of the cracks all over the place. People are coming up with cooperative, autonomous alternatives to capitalism. Some people in Lake Worth are already part of those movements. The more they grow, the more the inspiration spreads. We can pass resolutions against these corporate plans, publicly withdraw our consent and openly nurture the growth of healthier paths into the future.
8) Local Department of Homestead Security (D.H.S.) After we secede from the nation, fire the police and code enforcement, smash capitalism, decentralize decision making power, and turn city hall into a free day care center, we can get back to more useful work in the community by helping to initiate a local D.H.S.- no politicians required! ‘Homesteading’ generally refers to the simple act of taking unused land and making use of it. The first step will be putting city owned property to use. It’s already ours, so let’s use it! Empty lots become parks and gardens, abandoned houses become lived in. Next, when we gain some courage, we go for the neglected, speculated private property (look out John Rice). If we have places to live, land to grow food and medicine and supportive neighborhoods, who cares which loudmouth white guy tries to hop into the abandoned mayor’s chair next? We won’t need him! This is a crucial part of mending the deep wounds of conquest and colonization that we are the heirs of.
9) Dismantle Civilization If were gonna try digging up the roots of our social problems, we should be thorough and have some long term vision, right? A couple thousand years ago, some humans made a serious wrong turn. ‘Adam and Eve’ was one of the popular fables explaining what went down, but today we have a more solid grasp on human history and it shows countless bloodbaths and famines as evidence that civilization building (meaning industrial agriculture, urbanization, surplus economies, political hierarchy, etc.) was a bad idea, a mistake. Of course we can’t go back, but we should be able acknowledge or errors, learn from mistakes and try to move on. There’s a lot of important work to do in making our communities more cooperative and sustainable- for our own sake as well as the sake of the planet. The first 95% of our species’ development might be a good place to look for inspiration and useful skills.
10) Do Something. Politicians don’t solve our problems, our direct day-to-day actions do. For things to change, people need to stop blindly following the status quo. This is a wake up call…Y’all ready to get up yet?!
11)…
For more details, check out “What A Free Lake Worth Might Look Like” on http://www.downwardmobilitylw.org/
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