Tompkins Square Park
And there seems to be a new book of photography from Powerhouse Books
called "Tompkins Square", with photographs in black and white by Q.
Sakamaki and essay by Bill Weinberg that has appeared this week in
memoriam of the 20th Anniversary of the Tompkins Square Park Riots in
that Park, that park everywhere in that former New York City
neighborhood of the Lower East Side, that is now called the East
Village for real estate marketing purposes maybe. I know this book has
been written because a friend, The Village Voice, The New York Times, The New York Press, The Villager
and other newspapers this week say so. And that book seems to be about
documenting the history of that park then and now, its symbol of
resistance, its bandshell long torn down, lost and forgotten, it's
homeless encampments, its home for the homeless, its abandoned
buildings,its tents, its affordable housing, its squatters squats, its
riots, its protests, its arrests, its evictions, its police
confrontations, its Squatter May Day Concerts, its festivals, its AIDS
souls, its punk rockers, its hippies, its Dinkinsville, its Avenue
A,B,C and D Alphabet City scene, Its La Plaza Cultural, its
neighborhood, its 80's, 90's and pre gentry gentrification, genocide
era, its destruction and its resurrection. And it is a book of photos
and there seems to be lots of historical and archival photos of that
neighborhood and times indeed in that book. And there was a book launch
and 20th Anniversary Commemoration at the Powerhouse Arena just
yesterday I believe, to commemorate that park and era I guess. And this
book seems to be a book to read. Squatters Rights... The Squatters Are
Your Neighbors...No Housing No Peace...Squat The World...No one is free
when others are oppressed...Is another world possible...Long Live
CBGB's. Long Live The Lower East Side. And what does this have to do
with a No Police State?




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