[Imc-newsroom] Queer "Settlers" Landed on Berkeley Starbucks (fwd)

[Mark Enslin]

Queer 'Settlers' Land on Berkeley Starbucks
Analogy to Israeli Colonists
by QUIT
QUIT
August 20, 2002
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 cafe
"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 cafe were surprisingly unruffled as the Queer Defense
Forces
entered the cafe 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 cafe 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 at yahoo.com;
http://www.quitpalestine.org.

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