First Friday/Art Murmer has grown over the course of years, from a small subculture gathering to an internationally renowned event. Living a stone’s throw from it’s epicenter I had an intimate familiarity with the monthly event from its earliest days, but no personal interest. It was an exhibition of what many call Hipster Gentrification, and found myself culturally disinclined. I’m grateful for any activity on that stretch of Telegraph, which was dangerously dark and inactive before a building owner, Haig Mardikian, implemented a strategy to improve the area by cultivating an art scene; renting space below market-value to artist and producers to encourage growth. Given the tremendous economic and cultural boost of First Fridays, no one can doubt this success.
First Friday is a veritable Black Friday, every month. Many independent businesses rely upon it and cite it as an index. What once helped a beatnik cafe meet reduced rent, now enlivens an entire district. First Friday provides valuable insight into how to grow Oakland, and what economic rejuvenation looks like.
During the Occupy Oakland encampments, retailers dependent on First Friday felt an economic hit. The impact was particularly harsh in the immediate surrounding area, hurting retail, food, entertainment, and fashion oriented businesses. As a downtown resident, I believe this could have changed if the camp had matured in an environment free of physical intimidation from police, given the many positive changes Occupy brought. In the year to follow the police riots of 2011, Occupy Oakland proved itself to be not uprooted, but rather unleashed.
Mobile mobs swarmed on days of action, turning downtown into a dramatic theater of civil disobedience; complete with explosions, blood, poison gas, and broken glass. The regularity of these events naturally incorporated First Friday. Occupy and ‘officially’ unrelated autonomous actions shut down the streets surrounding the Art Murmer, turning the Berkeley-esqe bacchanal into a full on block-party. Month after month this occurred, until stages were boldly erected in the streets. Banners were dropped on buildings. Epic acts of graffiti were performed. The streets were reclaimed and eventually the pigs began blocking the streets for us, as if it was their idea the whole time.
Mayor Quan even showed-up (in her usual benzodiazepine stupor) for Potemkin photo-ops, showing how proud she was… and who could blame her. She nodded of, woke up, and Occupy had re-engineered First Friday.
First Friday grew to international acclaim with tens of thousands of attendees and write ups in the global mainstream media. It was the largest economic event to hit the Town since rock-cocaine. Unlike rock-cocaine, First Friday happened in defiance of government corruption and incompetence, not because of it. Bigger and Blacker than ever before, First Friday began to reflect Oakland’s population and interests, which raised concern. Our young people are murdering each other, and have been for decades.
Many of the causes for youth criminality are alleviated by events like First Friday and the Occupy encampments. Just as hospitals are prone to outbreaks, a means of restoration can also be temporary vehicle for a problem to express. Just as we should not close hospitals for their problems, we should not discourage the growth and success of First Friday. When a newly acquired asset is marred by the flaws brought to it, it is a opportunity to fix the flaws, not discard the asset. The government did not create First Friday, is incapable of improving it, and is now seeking to kill it. That is the only thing they can do. As soon as First Friday grew came up on the government’s radar, they began dismantling it from within through “Shareholder meetings” and direct graft. Even before the murder (which occurred after police descended), Oakland’s bureaucracy sought to shrink the event back to its original physical and racial dimensions, in an attempt to kill local’s involvement. Our incompetent and corrupt government has only acted to oppose Oakland’s self-determination and growth, and only encouraged the culture of nihilism that grips our youth.
The LBL resolves Oakland’s economy, people, and culture are under attack by the racist bureaucracy and police. Direct action must be taken to re-reclaim the streets to secure the growth of our economy, and a positive future for Oakland’s youth.
It’s unclear what LBL is calling for. “Direct action,” they advise, “must be taken to re-reclaim the streets.”
Agreed! But what form should it take? “Mobile mobs swarmed on days of action,” you remind us, “turning downtown into a dramatic theater of civil disobedience; complete with explosions, blood, poison gas, and broken glass.” Are you urging a return to that level of direct action?
“Banners were dropped on buildings,” you add. “Epic acts of graffiti were performed.” Yet surely now, when as you describe, “Oakland’s economy, people, and culture are under attack by the racist bureaucracy and police,” mere banner drops and graffiti tags are a futile gesture.
Stronger medicine is needed. Stronger, perhaps, than even the swarming mobs of Occupy Oakland during its heyday.