Author Topic: "Go Native" Burning Man Event & AIM Protest, Oakland, CA  (Read 39636 times)

Offline Defend the Sacred

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"Go Native" Burning Man Event & AIM Protest, Oakland, CA
« on: March 26, 2009, 10:59:42 pm »
(if this is more appropriate for Research Needed or straight to Frauds, feel free to move it there)
 
Excerpted from a bulletin sent out by Graywolf

Note from Mark Anquoe:
American Indian Movement

Brothers and Sisters,

Yesterday I was informed about an obscene racist event that will be hosted by a Burning Man crew. On Saturday, March 28th, an organization calling itself "Visionary Village" will put on a dance party called "Go Native" where participants are being asked to come in "native costume". They advertise that the event will raise funds for "neurofeedback research" in Native American Church members. THIS IS A LIE. Real NAC members would never consent to being "studied" during our most sacred ceremonies! Furthermore, their "theme rooms", as scheduled, will make a mockery of Native cultures, including the Anasazi and "Pueblo" cultures (as if there was a single, generic "Pueblo" culture).

In addition, they proudly advertise that their dance party will be held "in a bordello complex" built on top of an ancient Ohlone site! Adding desecration to this insult is outrageous!

The event organizers have been contacted by *many* people in the community, and in addition to being completely insensitive to the Native people who have contacted them, they have also been unable to establish any connection between their "fundraising event" and *any* Native American Church group or individual.

The text from their advertising appears below. Read all of these details for yourself. Part of the flyer is also attached as an image.

The American Indian Movement WILL BE ORGANIZING AN ACTION AGAINST THIS EVENT. More details to follow.

For the moment, please write to the organizers and tell them how you feel about their event. Please write to the DJs and performers and tell them that real life Indians are insulted and furious about this event. Also, please forward this information on to any Burning Man people you know. Its important that these people know that their own community does not support this kind of racism! Tell all the Burning Man people you know to NOT ATTEND THIS EVENT! It is especially important that NAC members, Pueblo people, and Ohlone people make their voices heard on this issue.

Organizers:
visionaryvillage@gmail.com

Performers (partial list, more to come):
peachy@janakaselekta.net
www.myspace.com/janakaselekta

http://www.myspace.com/mozaicmusic

http://people.tribe.net/chlorophil

http://www.myspace.com/venusinvelvet

apache.cleo@gmail.com


event advertisement follows:
------------



March 28th: GO NATIVE : Descend-Dance @ The Bordello, Oakland
Doors open 9:30 pm $15 in native costume, $20 without
The Bordello is located at 1247 E. 12th St. , Oakland, CA, 94606

Descend-Dance will raise funds for the Native American Church's medicinal
work, specifically the neurofeedback research demonstrating causality
between medicinal use, improved brainwave patterns, and heightened mirror
neuron activity in users.

Come dance to 20+ DJs an 1870s bordello complex built in front of the
ancient Ohlone Indian gathering ground in Oakland.

There will be a discount for Native costume, and the four rooms themed to the four
elements: http://www.visionaryvillage.org

Water: Island Natives (Maori) : Air: Cliff Natives (Anasazi) :
Earth: Jungle Natives (Shipibo) : Fire: Desert Natives (Pueblo) :
20+ DJs, including Mozaic, Chlorophil, Ultraviolet, Janaka Selekta.

Performance Troupes including Venus in Velvet and Elana of Bella Fuego,
Fashion Show, Micro-Massages, Raw food, Absinthe Bar, Coconuts, and more.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2014, 02:33:53 am by Kathryn »

frederica

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Re: "Go Native" Burning Man Event & AIM Protest, Oakland, CA
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2009, 03:53:14 am »
That is absolutely bizarre.

Offline Defend the Sacred

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Re: "Go Native" Burning Man Event & AIM Protest, Oakland, CA
« Reply #2 on: March 28, 2009, 08:26:40 pm »
This is the response the organizers sent out to a number of us today. It would be good if any of the activists who attended these meetings could also post or email and confirm if this is an accurate summation of what's happened:

*** *** ***
From: Visionary Village <visionaryvillage@gmail.com>
To: [addresses removed for privacy reasons]
Sent: Saturday, March 28, 2009 3:39:46 PM
Subject: RE: March 28th the Bordello


"Because of the recent turmoil surrounding this event and promotions done on its behalf, the Visionary Village has signed a petition created by the Native American community to alter the event. We added our own increased suggestions, signed and enacted the agreement. Afterward, we met with several dozen memebers of AIM West and the Native American community at the interfriendship house and informed them we were still considering canceling the event outright. The silence and thunderous applaud clearly indicated their joy that we would consider it. We agreed to cancel the event and will be present with hundreds of Native Americans at the Bordello supporting and ensuring our decision. There will be no music at this private gathering of Villagers and Native Americans as we build the bridges necessary for healing, education and growth in our greater community. "

*** *** ***

By "interfriendship house" I'm assuming they mean the Intertribal Friendship House in Oakland?
« Last Edit: February 13, 2014, 02:34:37 am by Kathryn »

Offline tachia

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Re: "Go Native" Burning Man Event & AIM Protest, Oakland, CA
« Reply #3 on: March 28, 2009, 08:52:33 pm »
this is the "update" sent out, this morning, in a bulletin on myspace by Graywolf .. ..

----------------- Bulletin Message -----------------
From: GRAYWOLF
To:
Date: Mar 28, 2009 8:17 AM
Subject: RACIST AND INSULTING NATIVE(?)AMERICAN EVENT UPDATE!


WELL HERE'S THE LATEST FROM THE VISIONARY VILLAGE WEBSITE---HOPEFULLY NOW WE CAN SEE FOR OURSELVES WHAT CAN BE DONE WHEN WE UNITE FOR THE COMMOM GOOD! HOPEFULLY THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING OF A NEW TREND OF PEOPLE STANDING UP AND TAKING ACTION! A VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO TOOK THE TIME TO WRITE VISIONARY VILLAGE AND ESPECIALLY TO ALL THE CHAPTERS OF AIM THAT WERE INVOLVED---TO CORINE FAIRBANKS, TO HER HUSBAND MICHAEL AND TO MARK FOR BRINGING IT TO OUR ATTENTION IN THE FIRST PLACE---GREAT JOB, ESPECIALLY SINCE I NOW HERE THE EVENT IS CANCELLED!

OAKLAND

We have been approached by the Native American community with a petition requesting we go forward with the event and do so with the full demonstration of integrity outlined. The text of that petition is below, followed by our whole-hearted agreement with even more suggestions for how this can be an established event for all to cherish their unique heritage at.


On behalf of the Visionary Village, allow me to thank you for a very gracious letter from a community who has had suffered so many generations of oppression, and so many instances of categorical dismissal when encountering indignities up unto this modern day.


Although a number of Villagers descend from Native Americans, and that the event is a call for people to stand fast and proud in their own native tradition while embracing the world around them as if it were their own, we all recognize the grave pain and turmoil Native Americans continue to endure through cultural appropriation, and are sad that some of us, and thereby, as an organization, all of us, have contributed to that.


When this was first brought to our attention this week, some in the village who knew what the actual intent were and couldn't fathom the origin of the anger, retreated into defensiveness. We regret that corrective action was delayed.




Actions thus far include:

+ Removing all tribal affiliations from any promotional material we had access to.

+ Posting clarifications and apologies on every public forum we knew this discussion to be taking place upon.

+ Signing this petition calling for changes to the event.

+ Removing all imagery of iconographic Native American symbols.

+ Pursuing the validation for claims of NAC chartership by the individuals who approached us, and whom we have worked with before, prior to any distribution of funds.

+ Declaring that in the event of a fraudulent NAC claim, all proceeds from our private gathering would go to a 501(c)3 of the Bay Area Native American community's choice, such as Save Our Tribal Youth, or Native American Health Care Advocacy.

+ Withdrawing the request that people arrive in native costume. Issuing a statement that every individual has a rich enough heritage of their own that they do not need to appropriate their neighbor's heritage.

+ A committment to work in concert with the Bay Area Native American community on all future events which may include anything remotely thematic, such as fundraisers for Tribal Youth or the campaign to reclaim Native American remains fro museums.

+ Holding a public forum from 5 to 7 pm in Mosswood Park, Oakland, Friday March 27th, for all interested and injured parties to address this and any future endeavor's to the community's satisfaction.

+ Inviting all interested and injured parties to join us in preparation of the private gathering tomorrow, so as to both ensure a conscious event of sufficient integrity transpires, and to join in the larger celebration of all cherishing each of our unique heritages.

+ Amending our website to reflect these changes.

+ Personally contacting each person who provides a phone number so as to apologize, and thank them for helping navigate us through this profound learning period.




Speach

The native people of these lands have endured 500 years being oppressed and having their belongings stolen by someone who looks like me.

That is not white guilt. That is not white shame.

That is white heritage.


So when an organization which has people who look like me attempts to generate funds in the name of native people of these lands:
a demand for verification and right relationship is in order.

In the absence of either,
after 500 years of genocide,
outrage is an appropriate response until demonstrated otherwise.


Bbecause when all you have felt for so long is pain in a relationship
it needs to be hyper-clear that there is more than a new hope;
there is a new way.

and that is the work the Visionary Village has set about to do.

A way that enables each of us to embrace our native roots side by side.

Acknowledging what has come before, and growing together into what comes next.

Because if it is not together, it is nothing.


We cried out to the spirit of the earth, asking the other children of this planet who are here to do this work together
to come do this work together.

and here you all came.

is it any wonder that as we cried out in our ignorance that it sounded ignorant.


the european tribes-people making this plea can name more native american tribes than they can native european tribes.

European tribal culture has been eradicated .

and they have been thrust into adoption by European-American culture.

The latin roots of the word nativus and natus means, produced by birth. be born.

The European-American culture is native to nowhere, except the earth in general.

Yet this culture has subsisted entirely of travelling this planet
as a foreign invader.

If European-American tribal culture has been eradicated, and we must walk this planet without home
then the very least we can do is make ourselve of service to the people who natively caregive that bioregion.

We do not crave your resources.

We do not crave your culture.

We have enough questions of cultural identity to explore on our own
and if the people who presented themselves to us as members of the Native American Church cannot be publically verified as such
we would turn over the resources gathered in their name to verifiable natives such as yourselves who are with us on this quest.



The only solution i have ever found to a lack of love
Was more love.

And each of us gathered here today has done so because we are creating the solution.

Because we, and this consciousness are the solution.

Spreading this, anchoring this as the reality of tomorrow's event is something which Native Americans can make happen in ways
that make this what we've all been looking for.

And ways we could never accomplish without you.

Because if it is not done together,
there is more to be done.

Let's do it.

Let us be the ones to co-create with you a new precedence at an event whose proceeds are also refueling the community
if not to people who claimed to be legitimate, then to people who are legitimate.

And next would you let us host a fundraiser for Tribal Youth? For Native American health care advocacy?
Help us do what we are good at by giving the funds generated a place to land.

It is the evolution of white privilege.

We can set the new precedent for race relations.

Right now.

Right this weekend.

In a truly great way.

look around you.

we already did.


~Caapi~




The GO Native series is an invitation for us all to embrace our unique native heritages. Be they Navaho, Norse, or unknown. Furthermore the validity of the native american church charter that this event's funds are dog-eared for will be publicly verified, and if it cannot, then all funds will be turned over to the bay area Amerindian community.


Meanwhile, anything resembling native american symbolism has been removed from all promotional materials that we have access to, and the four rooms solely oriented to earth, air, water, and fire. Furthermore we are Emailing our contacts a clarification and reminder of the true meaning on how to Go Native with integrity to ones self and ones neighbors.


Please feel free to email us any further suggestions or come join us to hold space for education and transformation of all ignorance into integrity. We will also be available in a public forum Friday march 27th at Mosswood Park in Oakland, at 5PM. For any and all interested parties to hold us accountable toward creating an event deemed fantastic by the people.

Offline tachia

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Re: "Go Native" Burning Man Event & AIM Protest, Oakland, CA
« Reply #4 on: March 28, 2009, 08:53:43 pm »
and this .. also from this morning .. ..

Per Mark Anquoe, AIM-West


Brothers and Sisters,

Tonight, March 27th at the IFH Women's Day event, Visionary Village organizer Caapi and "Go Native" flyer designer Byron Pope stood before the gathered elders and community members. They respectfully listened while person after person publicly spoke to them about the injury inflicted on our community and the anger their "Go Native" event and promotion aroused. Speakers ranged in age from 8 to 80. When asked what could be done to rectify the situation, the gathered community unanimously demanded that the event be canceled.


In front of the assembled community members and recorded on video, Visionary Village organizer Caapi and artist Bryan Pope both signed an agreement that read as follows (spelling corrected):

"Visionary Village members Caapi and Byron have agreed to cancel the event at the Bordello on Sat, 3.28.09.
"

The paper was signed and dated by both men.

A photo of the agreement paper is attached to this email.

They also verbally agreed to and acknowledged the following:

1. They will be at the venue to turn away event attendees and explain the agreement reached.

2. There will be no DJs/music played at the venue, and no impromptu gathering of any kind.

3. Members of the Native American community will be present at the venue with them to ensure that their word is kept.

4. Members of the Native American community will still gather as planned for the protest to further ensure that they keep to their word. Should the agreement be perceived to be broken, the Native American community will move to stop the event.

It is imperative that the Native community still come as planned in order to support and ensure the cancellation of Saturday night's event. Visionary Village organizers Caapi and Byron Pope undertook the difficult task of facing the anger of the Native community. Tomorrow night they will face the disappointment and unpredictability of a potentially large crowd of party-goers. Our presence at the venue will both support them and reassure our community that our agreement is honored.

Following the successful cancellation of the event, a dialog can then follow to address ways we can further heal the rift between our communities.

I hope to see all of you at IFH tomorrow evening as planned.

Mark Anquoe
American Indian Movement

Offline tachia

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Re: "Go Native" Burning Man Event & AIM Protest, Oakland, CA
« Reply #5 on: March 28, 2009, 08:57:12 pm »
so .. i am confused .. are they going forward with the event? .. or is it canceled? .. ..

like Kathryn, i too would like to hear from some of the activists as to whether this is accurate or not .. .. i have been getting conflicting messages about this .. .. .. ?

Offline Defend the Sacred

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Re: "Go Native" Burning Man Event & AIM Protest, Oakland, CA
« Reply #6 on: March 28, 2009, 09:25:38 pm »
so .. i am confused .. are they going forward with the event? .. or is it canceled?

The Burning Man subculture is anarchic. I would not be the slightest bit surprised if a bunch of burners show up at "The Bordello" tonight, claim the two men who signed the agreement don't speak for them, and try to proceed with the event anyway.

Given the racism and entitlement dripping from most of the posts from probable attendees on various message boards, I predict that's what will happen tonight. If people don't want this to happen, they need to be there in person to make sure it doesn't.

Offline tachia

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Re: "Go Native" Burning Man Event & AIM Protest, Oakland, CA
« Reply #7 on: March 28, 2009, 10:23:03 pm »
The Burning Man subculture is anarchic. I would not be the slightest bit surprised if a bunch of burners show up at "The Bordello" tonight, claim the two men who signed the agreement don't speak for them, and try to proceed with the event anyway.

Given the racism and entitlement dripping from most of the posts from probable attendees on various message boards, I predict that's what will happen tonight. If people don't want this to happen, they need to be there in person to make sure it doesn't.

kathryn .. i do believe that you are right about this .. .. check this out, from one of the performers .. .. .. interesting to see what this person thinks of us .. .. ..

http://people.tribe.net/chlorophil/blog/fe2f6c96-2ed4-4204-820b-6eebb472a9d4

« Last Edit: February 13, 2014, 02:21:13 am by Kathryn »

Offline tachia

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Re: "Go Native" Burning Man Event & AIM Protest, Oakland, CA
« Reply #8 on: April 01, 2009, 04:13:06 pm »
update ..
(posted for Diana whose computer is acting up)

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/music/burners_torched_over_native_party/Content?oid=954007


Burners Torched Over Native Party
Local Native Americans go to war against insensitive Burners and win.
By David Downs

April 1, 2009
David Downs

There was supposed to be a "private" Burner party last Saturday night at the Bordello in Oakland, complete with three hundred guests, twenty DJs spinning thumping techno and bass, dancers, a fashion show, micro-massages, raw food, an absinthe bar, and coconuts. Instead, the event ended in tears.

More than fifty Bay Area Native American rights activists converged on the historic East Oakland property at 9:30 p.m. to ensure the shutdown of popular Burning Man group Visionary Village's "Go Native!" party. The fired-up Hopis, Kiowas and other tribal members spent more than four hours lecturing the handful of white, college-class Burners about cultural sensitivity until some of them simply broke down crying. The emotional crescendo capped a month-long saga that started with a tone-deaf dance party flyer, led to an Internet flame war and a public excoriation of Visionary Village's young, neo-hippy leaders before real tribal elders in the East Bay demanded a cancellation of the event.

The strange saga all began in early February when Visionary Village — a loose group of artists and other young people who enjoy the annual Burning Man arts festival in Nevada — began routine publicity for a Burning Man-style "private event" at the Bordello on E. 12 Street in Oakland. The online flyer circulated on Tribe.net read: "GO NATIVE" in an Old West font set against a desert sun, and the dance party was advertised as a "fundraiser for the Native American Church." Native-rights activists got wind of it and publicized additional text from the VisionaryVillage.org web site indicating four "elemental rooms" would be themed: "Water: Island Natives (Maori); Air: Cliff Natives (Anasazi); Earth: Jungle Natives (Shipibo); Fire: Desert Natives (Pueblo)." Ravers were offered a discount off the $20 door fee "if you show up in Native costume," and the money would fund "neurofeedback research demonstrating causality between medicinal use [of peyote], improved brainwave patterns, and heightened mirror neuron activity in users." The 140-year-old Bordello property abuts Interstate 880 and an ancient Ohlone Indian site dated to the 12th century B.C., which was also promoted.

By Wednesday, March 25, Native Americans across the country were seething on the comment boards, especially IndyBay.org — a popular web destination for alternative news and culture. American Indian Movement West member Mark Anquoe, a 39-year-old San Francisco resident, said he'd never seen such a swift reaction. The Burners touched a third rail when they invoked the Native American Church, which has had to fight for legal status from the United States for years. The costume discount, lumping distinct tribes in with each other and the promise of debauchery next to sacred Ohlone land, only added gasoline to the inferno. Commenters demanded that the event be canceled, started a petition amongst rights groups, and some began threatening Visionary Village with arson and rape. Among the most incendiary comments received by the Village: "YOU FUCKING CRACKKKERS[sic] ARE THE REAL DEVIL AS SPOKEN IN THE SCRIPTURE! SHIT LIKE THIS DOES NOT SUPRISE ME ONE BIT, ... I PRAY TO THE MOST HIGH THAT A METEOR WILL FALL OUT THE SKY AND HIT 1247 E. 12th Street AND ALL YOU FUCKING DEVILS WILL BE BURNING MEN ALRIGHT!!!!"

Anquoe said the sum of the Burners' actions turned them into a focal point for latent Indian rage over things as broad as the Cleveland Indians mascot and the Boy Scouts. "This is so many different levels all at once that the whole community from everywhere went up in flames all at once," he said.

The Burners quickly backpedaled online, signing a petition to distance the event from any Native themes and stating: "The decorations in the Air Room include a parachute. Our organizers are dressing as time-traveling aliens, Nickelodeon cartoon characters, and fire-dragons because that is how they identify their native identity. That is their NATIVE ATTIRE/COSTUME. ... Please stop slandering our event and misleading people."

But the bonfire was too big. Real Native Americans promised to protest the event and some DJs egged them on. On Friday, March 27, IndyBay reporter and UC Berkeley attendee Hillary Lehr proposed a meeting of both sides in Mosswood Park to work out their differences. Visionary Village leaders "Caapi" and Byron Page attended the meet with Anquoe and others. The Native Americans persuaded the Burners to come to the Intertribal Friendship House on International Boulevard in Oakland that night. There, they got blasted by Natives young and old for their party idea.

"They were brave for even coming," said Anquoe. "They saw the real tears of the people there and saw the heat of people's anger. The Village Elders demanded a cancellation. There was a ten-year-old girl sobbing in front of them."

Caapi and Page offered to cancel the event to wild applause, but the Native Americans planned on showing up Saturday night anyway. The event had been promoted for a month and they wanted the chance to talk to whoever showed up dressed in "native costume." More than twenty partygoers would arrive Saturday night, some in pattern-printed Hopi T-shirts or rustic, Andean fabrics and cuts, but all of them fled after hearing what was transpiring inside the Bordello.

Within the dark, labyrinthine walls of the 140-year-old former brothel, old Native Americans were lecturing young Burners on what it meant to be Indian. Lit by dim lamps under red glass lampshades, tribal elder Wounded Knee DeOcampo — wearing a black T-shirt that read "original landlord" — stood over performance artist "Cicada" in her sparkly, sheer scarf and layered hipster garb, lecturing her about his grandmother's forcible kidnapping and rape at white hands.

"There's a lot of pain," he said. "I don't want you to agree with me, I want you to understand!"

IndyBay reporter Lehr was nearby saying, "I've never seen anything like this. Their grievance is very real and it wasn't reconciled, it was escalated. We're starting to go down a long road now. It's not like everything's going to be okay. We're not going to sit around singing kumbaya."

At 10 p.m., activists and party planners sat cross-legged in a circle in the main room, lit by a lone spotlight and led by stern Intertribal Friendship House director Morning Star Gali. Native Americans vented and asked questions, while twentysomething Caapi — dressed in a Baja surf sweater — apologized profusely along with his crew. Byron Pope — noted for his Asian-Native American heritage and piercings, said he recently moved from his native Canada and was stunned at the response to his flyer. "I offer my sincere apologies. It's a different world here and I'm really learning that."

Caapi said his team's hearts were in the right place and they did not intend to steal Indian culture. "I think everyone here and inside of our community at large know how poorly promoted this event was in its iconography, in its text, in the affiliations and implications. I think perhaps after tonight the intent will be recognized for the good heartedness it was and the absence of anything resembling cultural appropriation."

But for every apology, the group often inserted a foot into its mouth. Some Burners said they'd been trained by shamans to build altars, others sang racist childhood songs, or noted the lack of Native Americans at Burning Man (which occurs on an Indian reservation). Others asked for Indian help with their Burning Man projects, prompting a Hopi woman to go off.

"I'm trying to articulate my feelings as best I can without completely losing it," she said. "What we do is not an artistic expression. And you don't have artistic license to take little pieces here and there and do what you want with it. That's something you people don't understand, probably never will understand.

"Name your little villages whatever you want, but don't ever associate it with Native Americans. Call it the Crystal Ranch or something. Call it the Mars Ranch. If you want to be spiritual — go be a Druid or something."

The back and forth went on until 1 a.m. and everyone was emotionally beaten, exhausted, and silent. No further reparations are planned, but the topic still smolders on places like Tribe.net. The organizers lost thousands of dollars in party planning fees, and face the continued ire of the Natives as well as their own Burner peers.

"Elaine" on Tribe.net writes: "Dude, don't kiss anymore ass! [Visionary Village] did nothing wrong in the first place. This whole thing is blown completely out of context and out of control. The public apologies shouldn't have to be made. Its not like the theme camp was screaming some Michael 'Kramer' Richard shit at the tribe. Sorry this is just ridiculous."

Anquoe says the non-party was a rare example of effective conflict resolution that is unique to the Bay Area, and he commends Caapi for their actions. Those bystanders who claim overreaction should reverse the situation.

"If Indian people put together a fund-raiser advertised to benefit the Catholic Church where we did our version of a Catholic Church ceremony and there wasn't actually a fund-raiser — you know what the reaction to it would be in the white community!?" he asked. "People would take legal actions against us, it would be crazy, it would be far beyond not having a party. As it is, these kids didn't get to have their party and they had to listen to Indian people being angry and that's about right for the injury they caused the Native community."

Caapi maintains that the fund-raiser for the Native American Church was genuine, and will be providing the names and phone numbers of the event's beneficiaries as soon as he can collect them all.

Offline Synapsis

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Re: "Go Native" Burning Man Event & AIM Protest, Oakland, CA
« Reply #9 on: April 02, 2009, 01:22:05 am »
WTF???? OK SO I WISH I WOULD HAVE KNOWN ABOUT THIS EARLIER... sorry didn't mean to yell.... but seriously this place is not to far from where i live... though in fact the location is no where near shellmound... or what is left of it... after they built bay st mall on top of most of it... but hay they named a street shellmound and donated a piece of crackhead central for a little place they call olone park.... we... my family and i couldn't go near that mall for the longest... then recently it seemed to be not so bad and i noticed someone had put up these metal sculptures and was burning sage there... and the theater my mother says is ok cuz the spirits enjoy the movies... heheheh... but the apartments on top of the shops are pretty much empty....

and don't get me started on the burning man people... see it started out on baker beach and it is/was a druidic ritual of burning the harvest king... now the way the ritual was originally is that the harvest king is sacrificed... yep truly... he gets all the women and all the whatever he wants all year till spring what he is burned... hence "burning man". So anyway back in the eighty's some people started doing it on baker beach. Most of them were into Crowleyite ... as in Alister kinda stuff if you get my drift. Before long it got to be a really popular thing and ended up being promoted by people with profit in mind and these people moved it out to the desert... and ever since then people have died in horrible and tragic ways... last year i someone hung himself and people sat there and watched and laughed and filmed it while he died because they were all wasted on drugs and "thought it was part of the act".

i am glad to see that they did not hold this event.... honestly i think it is often more a matter of ignorance then deliberate disrespect...

Offline Defend the Sacred

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Re: "Go Native" Burning Man Event & AIM Protest, Oakland, CA
« Reply #10 on: April 07, 2009, 04:25:02 am »
and don't get me started on the burning man people... see it started out on baker beach and it is/was a druidic ritual of burning the harvest king... now the way the ritual was originally is that the harvest king is sacrificed... yep truly... he gets all the women and all the whatever he wants all year till spring what he is burned... hence "burning man". So anyway back in the eighty's some people started doing it on baker beach. Most of them were into Crowleyite ... as in Alister kinda stuff if you get my drift. Before long it got to be a really popular thing and ended up being promoted by people with profit in mind and these people moved it out to the desert... and ever since then people have died in horrible and tragic ways... last year i someone hung himself and people sat there and watched and laughed and filmed it while he died because they were all wasted on drugs and "thought it was part of the act".

Well, you're sort of weaving together myths from a number of different cultures here.... though I guess that's what a lot of Burners do, as well. While it is highly debated by some scholars (and those who wish our ancestors had never done such things), it is probable that the ancient Celts did at some point practice human sacrifice - but it was probably criminals and enemies captured in battle who were killed rather than the whole Sacred King mythos as found in Frazier's Golden Bough.

I always assumed that Burning Man was based on the whole Wicker Man thing, but the organizers claim it's not. They claim it started in an unrelated manner. *shrugs* But however it started, certainly lots of people seem to ascribe some sort of Sacred King mythos to the symbolism of the event. There are Pagans (and pagans) who attend the event, but I think most of the people aren't particularly religious. It's an art project, and though some of the people who were involved in this ill-conceived party are involved in some form of postmodern Ceremonial Magic(k) [sic], I think most of them are agnostics, atheists and hedonists.

Offline Synapsis

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Re: "Go Native" Burning Man Event & AIM Protest, Oakland, CA
« Reply #11 on: April 30, 2009, 12:46:15 am »
yeppp that mixing of stuff was kinda my point... i just don't like them... they annoy me... the whole thing annoys me.. and it is a fall thing... or something... regardless they call up something that every year takes it's due in life... as in someone dies... it makes me sad really...

Offline Defend the Sacred

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Re: "Go Native" Burning Man Event & AIM Protest, Oakland, CA
« Reply #12 on: April 30, 2009, 05:56:52 am »
regardless they call up something that every year takes it's due in life... as in someone dies...

I do agree that people can call up things they don't understand, even when they have no intention of doing so. It creeps me out when people dabble in sacred imagery and bits of ceremonies - or even try to recreate whole ceremonies - as some sort of "artistic" spectacle. I've seen some creepy stuff happen with people who do that, just as I've seen badly done ceremonies by the well-intentioned but unskilled (or ignorant) cause harm. I've never been to Burning Man, but given the imagery and traditions some of them are messing with, and some of the people who are attracted to the event, I'm not surprised to hear this. I think you have a very good point.

Offline Synapsis

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Re: "Go Native" Burning Man Event & AIM Protest, Oakland, CA
« Reply #13 on: April 30, 2009, 07:21:56 am »
Quote
just as I've seen badly done ceremonies by the well-intentioned but unskilled (or ignorant) cause harm.

yep there too... a few years back some of this same crown were having a "sweat" and someone put something in the fire inside this weirdness of plastic tent they were in and one of them died...

children playing with matches i say...

... i mean i have never been to a sweat but not too long after this someone held one for my friend who has this local magazine and he wrote the most wonderful thing... and he told me about it and what really got me was that he is allergic to sage and so the man who held the sweat was very much aware of that and his safety and well being and my friend explained all the things people were asked to bring and why and how it was really a mutual experience...

it is the difference between the sacred and the desecration of the sacred

much love

Offline Defend the Sacred

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Re: "Go Native" Burning Man Event & AIM Protest, Oakland, CA
« Reply #14 on: August 31, 2013, 04:53:26 pm »
The original links to the flyers (used to advertise this event) seem to be broken, so reposting them as image files.

Indybay article. The comments include some of the correspondence between activists and the organizers: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/03/25/18582184.php?show_comments=1

Other debates and meltdowns happened on tribe.net.
« Last Edit: August 31, 2013, 05:06:25 pm by Kathryn »