The Revolution Will Be Televised

Download this episode (right click and save) At tonight s Berkeley City Council Meeting, council member Donna Spring will ask for an urgent agenda item be added to confront the University over blocking the public sidewalk along Piedmont Ave at the Oak Grove. SPRING: “I m hoping that six members of the council will be willing to add it to the agenda, and there I want to make a motion to ask that we write a letter to the university telling them that we need our sidewalk back again. We need public access and to get their barriers off the public sidewalks. If they want to restrict the tree sitters they re gonna have to do it on their own property. Not use the public right-of-way to try to restrict the tree sitters from getting food and water. Protesters first occupied the trees in the Oak Grove more than 18 months ago in an effort to stop a planned Sports complex adjacent to the stadium at UC Berkeley. Last Monday, in anticipation of a judge s ruling, UC Berkeley brought in a Watsonville tree service company to remove the sitters platforms and traverse lines. On Sunday, police blocked supporters from providing food and water to the tree sitters. Ayr a supporter of the Oak Grove, told KPFA that he did not know how much food or water the tree sitters have left, but indicated the situation is not urgent. Ayr: Obviously as each day passes their rations are getting lower and lower being that we re not able to get them any new stuff, so we re demanding that the university allow food and water in. Dan Mogulof, executive director of public affairs at the university, said that the university feels it has achieved its goal of making it difficult for the tree sitters to maintain their protest. Mogulof: “If they re tired and if they re hungry and thirsty then all they need do is come down and they can have everything they need. Having said that, we continue to monitor the situation on a day-by-day basis. We re in constant contact with the people in the trees, they re telling us that they have adequate supplies. But if we perceive, or hear about any significant change in the status quo, in so far as their health and safety and well-being is concerned, we ll be ready to reevaluate our current position.” Mogulof would not say whether or not the university would allow the protesters access to food or water after they exhaust their existing supplies. In a formal letter to City Manager Phil Kamlarz, the university affirmed that it is monitoring the health of the tree sitters, and will provide food and water to any protesters who come down. Mayor Tom Bates said that he does not feel the University should take action against the tree sitters until the legal case has been completely resolved. Bates: “Eventually this is gonna wind down, just not that far off. The future is here, so it looks like, very shortly, we ll have a definitive answer to the question, “Can they cut down the trees?” And if they can cut down the trees in the near future, which I wouldn t like to see happen, and hope doesn t happen, then obviously the tree sitters are gonna have to come out of the trees. So it seems to me that, right now, that the university oughta not try to starve them out, or not allow them to have water too, in order to stay in the trees until we get a definitive answer from the judge.” Mogulof said he did not know why the university contracted with Williams Tree Service in Watsonville. Mogulof: “I personally have no idea where that firm is from I wasn t a party to any of those conversations, but to the best of my knowledge we selected a firm that had had specific experience with these sorts of events and activities in the past and were adaquetly trained and experienced to manage the situation. The fact is, is that no one was seriously injured last week, that we did manage to achieve our objectives and as far as I know the only one seriously injured was an arborist who was bit by one of the protesters.” The company has done business with UC Santa Cruz in the past. During the winter break, Williams Tree Service removed materials left near the site of a tree sit there. The Metro Santa Cruz Newspaper reports that the tree service s activities at the Santa Cruz site led vandals to damage company property held in its service yard. Citing safety concerns the University is refusing to speak publicly about the Tree Service company. Dennis Williams of Williams Tree Service also refused to comment on the companies operations saying that he can t speak about the matter until he has permission from the University police department. Mogoluf said he was unaware of any orders prohibiting Williams Tree Service from speaking to the media, and KPFA was unable to secure permission for Williams by the time of this broadcast. For KPFA, in Berkeley, I m Josh Wolf.

As the battle between tree sitters in the Oak Grove near the Berkeley stadium and arborists hired by the university to cut traverse lines and remove platforms continued for the second day Wednesday, one supporter climbed a light pole to join the protestors in the trees. This rough video captures what happened.

The University of California at Berkeley held a press conference to respond to a judgement by Barbara Miller of Alameda County Superior Court. In brief, the UC contends that the ruling is a victory with a few minor hurdles that must be overcome before the sports training complex can be erected.

On Tuesday morning, the University of California at Berkeley began the process of dismantling the support structures including platforms and traverse cable that had been used by the Berkeley tree-sitters who have occupied the Oak Grove for the past 18 months. The tree-sitters are attempting to stop the University from leveling the grove for a planned sports training facility.

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Rock the Vote recently held a call out to recruit a number of correspondents to Rock the Trail. As part of the application, I had to write a series of essays and produce a two-to-four minute video package on Our World: My Country as I see it. This is the piece that I put together with a musical backing that I added after posting my original application (the music is from Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I which has been released for free, but I m not sure if the rights include using the tracks in other media and I didn t want to send MTV an entry that possibly infringes on any copyrights). My 300 word essay on Sustaining young voter participation beyond 2008 is after the break (more )

For the News Tools 2008 conference, each of us participants were asked to interview another participant and prepare a report about who they are, what they are about, and what they will be bringing to the conference. In this video, Kaizar talks about his work at Newstrust.net and also explains some of the very good journalism that he has encountered in the past.

Watch live video from Tibetan Freedom Torch on Justin.tv On April 8, 2008, The Tibetan Freedom Torch will arrive in San Francisco. Olympic Torch SF will be there providing live video coverage of the event as it unfolds from 11AM-3PM and from 6PM-8PM.

On April 5, 2008 the Human Rights Torch arrived in San Francisco after traveling across the world beginning last year in Greece. The torch is a celebration of human rights and was established by a Falun Gong advocacy group in protest of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In this video, Supervisor Chris Daly, 68 Olympic medalist John Carlos and the organizers of the event explain why the run was organized and the history of Olympic politics.

Chris Daly spoke at the Human Rights Torch Relay in San Francisco earlier today, this video is his complete speech. There will be a Tibetan Freedom Rally on Tuesday before the Olympic torch makes its way through the city on Wednesday.

This is the latest revision of my demo reel; please let me know what you guys think and if there s anything I can do to kick it up a bit.

On March 16th, at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco, a peace vigil was held to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq. In this clip, Vice-Presidential candidate Matt Gonzalez addresses the crowd.

On March 16th, at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco, a peace vigil was held to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq. In this clip, peace activist Cindy Sheehan addresses the crowd.

On March 16th, at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco, a peace vigil was held to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq. In this clip, Daniel Ellsberg addresses the crowd.

On March 16th, at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco, a peace vigil was held to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq. In this clip, Iraq war veteran Joe Wheeler addresses the crowd.

On March 16th, at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco, a peace vigil was held to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq. In this clip, Betsy Rose sings a song with the women of Code Pink.

On March 16th, at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco, a peace vigil was held to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq. In this clip, the Editorial Director of Antiwar.com, Justin Raimondo, addresses the crowd.

On March 16th, at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco, a peace vigil was held to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq. In this clip, Senior Minister Greg Stewart addresses the crowd.

On February 14th, 2008, thousands of people gathered in San Francisco at Justin Hermann Plaza for the third annual flash mob pillow fight. This video attempts to capture what the experience was like at this recent Valentine s Day tradition. I wasn t able to see my girlfriend this V-day, and wanted to dedicate this video to her for Valentine s. Music: All-Night Pillow Fight by The Late Joys.

On February 14th, 2008, thousands of people gathered in San Francisco at Justin Hermann Plaza for the third annual flash mob pillow fight. This video attempts to capture what the experience was like at this recent Valentine s Day tradition. I wasn t able to see my girlfriend this V-day, and wanted to dedicate this video to her for Valentine s. Music: All-Night Pillow Fight by The Late Joys.

Here s a fun little video I made at work. I m making good progress on my goal to become more productive in 2008, but simply didn t have the time this week to put together the video I had planned. But, true to my commitment as a participant in Semanal08, here s a video within the week.

Here s a fun little video I made at work. I m making good progress on my goal to become more productive in 2008, but simply didn t have the time this week to put together the video I had planned. But, true to my commitment as a participant in Semanal08, here s a video within the week.

A short while ago, a few of the people on the Yahoo Videoblogging list decided to start the Semanal project. The basic idea is that participants will post a weekly video as part of the project and tag it semanal. My new year s resolution this year is to get my life back on track, to be productive, and to make headway on the path toward becoming a professional journalist. Each week, I will document this process in some manner and will begin the process of transforming this site into an active blog once again. This first post is pretty bland: it s just me reading something I wrote to the camera, but future videos will be more produced and hopefully more engaging Either way, I m happy to return to videoblogging and will have the second installment of Semanal up within the next seven days.

A short while ago, a few of the people on the Yahoo Videoblogging list decided to start the Semanal project. The basic idea is that participants will post a weekly video as part of the project and tag it semanal. My new year s resolution this year is to get my life back on track, to be productive, and to make headway on the path toward becoming a professional journalist. Each week, I will document this process in some manner and will begin the process of transforming this site into an active blog once again. This first post is pretty bland: it s just me reading something I wrote to the camera, but future videos will be more produced and hopefully more engaging Either way, I m happy to return to videoblogging and will have the second installment of Semanal up within the next seven days.

Are you a videoblogger, a You Tuber, filmmaker, or a video journalist? If so, check out RUNtv, a new television show on peralta.TV. The two-hour weekly show will feature short form videos from all genres and provide an opportunity for you to get paid for your work. Viewers and visitors each week will be invited to vote on their favorites, and we will be giving out cash grants to the top three videos every episode. First place gets $250, second $100 and the third place film will receive $50. Our season finale will feature all of our winners and a few favorites and will offer $1000, $500, and $250 to the favorite videos. Videos can be submitted electronically, or by mail. All electronic submissions need to be of a high enough compression rate for air on television. FTP available upon request. To submit your video send an e-mail with the link to josh(at)riseupnetwork.com, or simply leave a comment where we can find your video. If you d prefer to mail us your submission, send to: RUNtv c/o peralta.TV 900 Fallon St. Oakland, CA 94607

Are you a videoblogger, a You Tuber, filmmaker, or a video journalist? If so, check out RUNtv, a new television show on peralta.TV. The two-hour weekly show will feature short form videos from all genres and provide an opportunity for you to get paid for your work. Viewers and visitors each week will be invited to vote on their favorites, and we will be giving out cash grants to the top three videos every episode. First place gets $250, second $100 and the third place film will receive $50. Our season finale will feature all of our winners and a few favorites and will offer $1000, $500, and $250 to the favorite videos. Videos can be submitted electronically, or by mail. All electronic submissions need to be of a high enough compression rate for air on television. FTP available upon request. To submit your video send an e-mail with the link to josh(at)riseupnetwork.com, or simply leave a comment where we can find your video. If you d prefer to mail us your submission, send to: RUNtv c/o peralta.TV 900 Fallon St. Oakland, CA 94607

For the rest of my campaign for mayor of San Francisco, Joshwolf.net will be the home of a new website we have just launched. The site features a variety of means for people to contribute what they d like the future of San Francisco to look like as well as a regular campaign blog from me and possibly others as well. Please take a look and let me know what you think. I m also continuing to maintain my Mediasphere on a daily basis and as a result haven t had much time to contribute to this blog. While I do expect The Revolution Will Be Televised to resume with full vigor, I will continue to post here on an infrequent basis for the time being.