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People’s Park, Berkeley
People’s Park, Berkeley

People’s Park in Berkeley, Kalifornien ist ein Park zwischen Telegraph Avenue, Haste Street und Bowditch Street, sowie Dwight Way, in der Nähe der University of California, Berkeley. Der Park entstand im Zuge des radikalen politischen Aktivismus der späten 1960er.[1][2][3][4]

Im Stadtteil Southside kam es im Mai 1969 zu schweren Auseinandersetzungen zwischen protestierenden Studenten und der Polizei. Ein Wandbild in der Nähe des Parks von den ansässigen Künstlern O’Brien Thiele und Osha Neumann stellt die Erschießung von James Rector dar, einem Studenten, der an Gewehr-Verletzungen starb, die ihm die Polizei am 15. Mai 1969 zugefügt hatte.[5]

Das Land gehört rechtlich der University of California. People’s Park wird jedoch seit den frühen 1970ern als ein freier Public Park betrieben. Auch wenn er offen für alle ist, so ist er in der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung am Tage doch vor allem ein Schutzgebiet für die Einkommensschwachen und zum großen Teil die Obdachlosen der Stadt, welche dort eine Armenspeisung der Organisation Food Not Bombs aus East Bay besuchen. Anlieger und Freizeitsportler kommen gelegentlich in Konflikt mit den Obdachlosen.[1][2][3][4]

Vorgeschichte bis Mai 1969

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1956 beplanten die Regents (Board of Directors) der University of California ein Areal mit einer Fläche von 2,8 acre (1,1 ha) als zukünftiges Wohn- und Bürogelände mit Parkplätzen für den „Long Range Development Plan“ der Universität. Zu der Zeit fehlten noch die öffentlichen Mittel um das Land zu erwerben und der Plan wurde bis Juni 1967 aufgeschoben, als die Universität endlich die $1.3 million zur Erwerbung durch Enteignung (eminent domain) aufgebracht hatte. Das kurzfristige Ziel war, zunächst Sportfelder auf dem Gelände anzulegen.[6][7]

Bulldozer begannen im Februar 1968 mit dem Abriss der bestehenden Gebäude. Aber der Universität gingen die Mittel aus und das Gelände blieb mit halbabgerissenen Gebäuden und Schutt 14 Monate lang öde liegen. Die Schlammflächen wurden mit Schrottautos zugeparkt.[6][8]

Am 13. April 1969 trafen sich ortsansässige Unternehmer und Anwohner um Nutzungsmöglichkeiten zu besprechen. Zu der Zeit hatten die Studenten-Aktivisten Wendy Schlesinger und Michael Delacour (ein ehemaliger Sicherheitsdienst-Angestellter - defense contractor employee) und Aktivist der Friedensbewegung (Anti-War Activist)[9]) das Gebiet für sich entdeckt, da sie das Gelände als Ort für ihre geheimen Rendezvous genutzt hatten.[6] Die beiden stellten einen Plan zur Gestaltung des Areals als öffentlicher Park vor. Dieser Plan wurde von den Teilnehmern des Treffens begrüßt, jedoch nicht von der Universität angenommen. Stew Albert, ein Mitbegründer der Yippie Party, verfasste daraufhin einen Artikel für das lokale Untergrund-Magazin Berkeley Barb. Der Artikel sollte vor allem die Anwohner als Unterstützer für das Projekt gewinnen.[6]

Michael Delacour erzählte: „Wir wollten ein Areal für Freie Meinungsäußerung, das nicht wirklich kontrolliert wird wie Sproul Plaza (der Platz am Südeingang des Universitätscampus von Berkeley). Es war ein anderer Platz um sich zu organisieren, ein anderer Platz um eine Demonstration zu veranstalten. Der Park war nebensächlich.“ („We wanted a free speech area that wasn't really controlled like Sproul Plaza was. It was another place to organize, another place to have a rally. The park was secondary.“)[10] Das Free Speech Microphone der Universität war für alle Studenten frei zugänglich mit nur wenigen Beschränkungen. Der Bau des Parks setzte 1964 viele Menschen und Politiksysteme als Free Speech Movement in Bewegung.[11]

Am 18. April 1969 erschien Alberts Artikel in der Berkeley Barb und am Sonntag, dem 20. April, versammelten sich ca. 100 Personen vor Ort um mit dem Bau des Parks zu beginnen. Der lokale Landschaftsarchitekt Jon Read und viele andere spendeten Bäume, Blumen, Büsche und Grassoden. Essen wurde kostenlos bereitgestellt und der gemeinschaftliche Gestaltung des Parks schritt voran. Zeitweise waren ca. 1.000 Menschen direkt eingebunden und viele mehr spendeten Geld und Materialien. Der Park war Mitte Mai weitgehend gestaltet.[6][8][10]

Frank Bardacke, ein Teilnehmer an den Baumaßnahmen, erzählte in dem Dokumentarfilm Berkeley in the Sixties: „Eine Gruppe Menschen nahm öffentliches Land, welches der University of California gehörte, welches Parkplatz war und verwandelten es in einen Park und dann sagten sie: ‚Wir haben das Land besser genutzt als ihr und jetzt ist es unseres.‘“ („A group of people took some corporate land, owned by the University of California, that was a parking lot and turned it into a park and then said, 'We’re using the land better than you used it; it’s ours'.“)[11]

Am 28. April 1969 veröffentlichte der Vice Chancellor von Berkeley, Earl Cheit einen Plan zum Bau eines Sportfeldes an der Stelle. Dieser Plan passte nicht zu den Plänen der Aktivisten. Cheit verkündete jedoch, dass er keine Schritte unternehmen würde, ohne die Parkbauer zu informieren.

Zwei Tage später, am 30. April, übergab Cheit die Kontrolle über ein Viertel des Geländes an die 'Park’s Builders'.

Am 6. Mai traf sich Chancellor Roger W. Heyns mit Mitgliedern des People’s Park Committee, Vertretern der Studenten und Mitarbeitern vom College of Environmental Design. Er setzte ein Zeitlimit von drei Wochen für die Gruppe, damit sie einen Plan für den Park erstellten und er wiederholte sein Versprechen, dass Bauarbeiten nicht ohne Vorwarnung beginnen würden.[12]

Am 13. Mai informierte Heyns die Medien durch eine Presseerklärung, dass die Universität einen Zaun um das Gelände errichten würde, und, dass der Bau beginnen würde.[6]

15. Mai 1969: „Bloody Thursday“

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Karte von Berkeley Southside. In Grün das Gelände des People’s Park; in Braun Grundstücke im Eigentum der UC Berkeley.

Beim Beginn am 20. April wurde People’s Park in den ersten drei Wochen des Bestehens sowohl von Studenten der Universität, als auch von Anwohnern genutzt und die Einzelhändler der Telegraph Avenue sprachen ihre Anerkennung aus für die Bemühungen der Gemeinschaft, die Gegend zu gestalten.[8][13] Wiederstand gegen die Enteignung des Universitätsgeländes wurde nur gelinde geäußert, sogar von Beamten der Hochschule.

Der damalige Gouverneur Ronald Reagan hatte jedoch öffentlich die Universitätverwaltung kritisiert, weil sie studentische Demonstrationen am Berkeley Campus tolerierte.[14] Er hatte im Wahlkampf für die Gouverneurswahlen 1966 viel Unterstützung für das Wahlversprechen erhalten, die in der Öffentlichkeit wahrgenommene laxe Einstellung der Akademiker an Kalifornias öffentlichen Universitäten zu brechen. Reagan bezeichnete den Campus von Berkeley als „Rückzugsort für kommunistische Sympathisanten, Protestler und Sex-Abweichler“ („a haven for communist sympathizers, protesters, and sex deviants“).[14][15] Reagan hielt die Gründung des Parks für eine direkte Herausforderung von Linksgerichteten gegenüber den Besitzrechten der Universität und er fand darin die Gelegenheit, sein Versprechen aus dem Wahlkampf einzulösen.

Am Donnerstag, 15. Mai 1969, um 4:30 a.m. schickte Gouverneur Reagan Einheiten der California Highway Patrol und des Berkeley Police Department in den People’s Park und setzte damit Chancellor Heyns Versprechen außer Kraft, dass nichts ohne Vorankündigung unternommen würde. Die Polizeibeamten räumten ein Gebiet von 8 Blocks rund um den Park während eine große Fläche der bereits angepflanzten Flächen wieder verwüstet wurden und ein 2,4 m (8 ft) hoher Stacheldrahtzaun wurde aufgestellt um Menschen auszusperren und weitere Pflanzarbeiten zu unterbinden.

Die Aktion erfolgte Aufgrund der Bitten von Berkeleys republikanischen Bürgermeisters, Wallace Johnson[16] und wurde Anlass für die „gewalttätigste Konfrontation in der Geschichte der Universität“.[17]

Von der Demonstration zu Protesten

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Am Nachmittag des 15. Mai versammelten sich am nahegelegenen Sproul Plaza 3.000 Menschen, ursprünglich um eine Diskussion zum Arabisch–Israelischen Konflikt abzuhalten. Zahlreiche Menschen hielten Reden. Dann gab Rabbi Michael Lerner die Free Speech-Plattform an den Präsidenten der Studentenvereinigung Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) Dan Siegel, weil die Studenten sich wegen der Einzäunung und Verbauung des Parks äußern wollten. Siegel sagte später, dass er nie die Absicht gehabt habe einen Tumult zu verursachen; als er jedoch rief „Let’s take the park!“ („Lasst uns den Park einnehmen“),[18] schaltete die Polizei die Lautsprecher ab.[19] Die Menge reagierte spontan, indem sie die Telegraph Avenue entlangzog zum People’s Park und skandierte: „We want the park!“[1]

Die Demonstranten langten am frühen Nachmittag an und trafen dort auf die übrigen 159 Berkeley- und Universitäts-Polizisten, die beauftragt waren die Absperrung am Park zu sichern. Die Protestler öffneten einen Hydranten, mehrere hundert Demonstranten versuchten den Zaun niederzureißen und warfen mit Flaschen, Steinen und Ziegeln auf die Beamten und die Polizei schoß mit Tränengas.[20] Es kam zu einer heftigen Konfrontation zwischen der Polizei und der Menge, die auf ca. 4.000 Menschen angewachsen war.[21] Anfängliche Versuche der Polizei die Demonstranten zu zerstreuen waren erfolglos. Mindestens ein Auto wurde in Brand gesetzt.[20] Eine große Gruppe von Demonstranten stand einer kleinen Gruppe von Sheriff-Deputys gegenüber, die sich daraufhin die Flucht ergriffen. Die Menge jubelte und jagte ihnen kurz hinterher, bis die Hilfssheriffs in einer Autowerkstatt Zuflucht fanden. Die Menge rannte zurück zu einem Streifenwagen, den sie umwarf und in Brand steckte. Reagans Stabschef Edwin Meese III. übernahm die Verantwortlichkeit für die Reaktion der Regierung auf die Proteste im People’s Park, und berief die Stellvertreter des Sheriffs von Alameda County ein, wodurch die gesamte Polizeipräsenz auf 791 Beamte aus verschiedenen Gerichtsbarkeiten stieg. Meese war selbst früher District Attorney im Alameda County gewesen und war bekannt für heftige Reaktionen gegenüber denjenigen, die am Oakland Induction Center und sonstwo gegen den Vietnam War protestierten.[14]

Die Menschenmenge war nun auf etwa 6.000 Menschen angewachsen. Beamte in voller Kampfausrüstung verdeckten ihre Abzeichen, um nicht identifiziert zu werden und stürmten Schlagstöcke schwingend in die Menge. Als sich die Demonstranten zurückzogen, verfolgten die Stellvertreter des Sheriffs von Alameda County sie mehrere Blocks die Telegraph Avenue hinunter bis zur Willard Junior High School in der Derby Street und feuerten Tränengas und Schrotpatronen auf die fliehende Menge. Die Behörden behaupteten zunächst, dass als Schrotflintenmunition nur Vogelschrot verwendet worden sei, bis Ärzte den Verwundeten entnommene Schrotkugeln als Beweis vorlegten.[22] Frank Madigan, Sheriff des Alameda County, rechtfertigte den Einsatz von Schrotflinten, die mit tödlichem Schrot beladen waren, indem er erklärte: „Die Entscheidung war im Wesentlichen: Schrotflinten zu verwenden – weil wir es getan haben.“ „Ich hatte nicht die verfügbaren Kräfte – oder ich hätte mich zurückziehen müssen und die Stadt Berkeley dem Mob überlassen.“[23] Madigan gab jedoch auch zu, dass einige der Deputies (viele von ihnen Veteranen des Vietnamkrieges) übermäßig aggressiv vorgegangen seien und sich verhalten hätten, „als wären sie Vietcong“.[24][25]

Todesfälle

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"The indiscriminate use of shotguns [was] sheer insanity," according to Dr. Harry Brean, chief radiologist at Berkeleys Herrick Hospital.[21] Beamte schossen auch mit Schrotflinten auf Menschen, die auf dem Dach des Telegraph Repertory Cinema saßen. James Rector besuchte Freunde in Berkeley und sah vom Dach von Granma Books aus zu, als er von der Polizei angeschossen wurde. Er starb am 19. Mai. Alan Blanchard, ein Zimmermann, wurde durch eine Ladung Vogelschrot, die ihn direkt ins Gesicht traf, dauerhaft geblendet. Mindestens 128 Einwohner von Berkeley wurden wegen Kopfverletzungen, Schusswunden und anderen schweren Verletzungen, die ihnen von der Polizei zugefügt worden waren, in örtliche Krankenhäuser eingeliefert. 

Alamada County Coroner's report listed cause of death as "shock and hemorrhage due to multiple shotgun wounds and perforation of the aorta." The buckshot is the same size as a .38 caliber bullet.[26] Governor Reagan conceded that Rector was probably shot by police but countered that „it’s very naive to assume that you should send anyone into that kind of conflict with a flyswatter“."[27] The University of California Police Department (UCPD) claims Rector threw steel rebar down onto the police; however, according to Time, Rector was a bystander, not a protester.[25]

Carpenter Alan Blanchard was permanently blinded by a load of birdshot directly to his face.[25]

At least 128 Berkeley residents were admitted to local hospitals for head trauma, shotgun wounds, and other serious injuries inflicted by police. The actual number of seriously wounded was likely much higher, because many of the injured did not seek treatment at local hospitals to avoid being arrested.[6] Local medical students and interns organized volunteer mobile first-aid teams to help protesters and bystanders injured by buckshot, nightsticks, or tear gas. One local hospital reported two students wounded with large caliber rifles as well.[28]

News reports at the time of the shooting indicated that 50 were injured, including five police officers.[29] Some local hospital logs indicate that 19 police officers or Alameda County Sheriffs deputies were treated for minor injuries; none were hospitalized.[28] However, the UCPD claims that 111 police officers were injured, including one California Highway Patrol Officer Albert Bradley, who was knifed in the chest.[20]

Ausnahmezustand

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That evening, Governor Reagan declared a state of emergency in Berkeley and sent in 2.700 National Guard troops.[14][21] The Berkeley City Council symbolically voted 8–1 against the decision.[24][28] For two weeks, the streets of Berkeley were patrolled by National Guardsmen, who broke up even small demonstrations with tear gas.[23] Governor Reagan was steadfast and unapologetic: "Once the dogs of war have been unleashed, you must expect things will happen, and that people, being human, will make mistakes on both sides."[21]

During the People’s Park incident, National Guard troops were stationed in front of Berkeleys empty lots to prevent protesters from planting flowers, shrubs, or trees. Young hippie women taunted and teased the troops, on one occasion handing out marijuana-laced brownies and lemonade spiked with LSD.[25] Some protesters, their faces hidden with scarves, challenged police and National Guard troops. Hundreds were arrested, and Berkeley citizens who ventured out during curfew hours risked police harassment and beatings.

Berkeley city police officers were discovered to be parking several blocks away from the Annex park, removing their badges and donning grotesque Halloween-type masks (including pig faces) to attack citizens they found in the park annex."[23]

Aftermath of "Bloody Thursday"

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On Wednesday, May 21, 1969, a midday memorial was held for student James Rector at Sproul Plaza on the university campus, with several thousand people attending.

On Thursday, May 22, 1969, about 250 demonstrators were arrested and charged with unlawful assembly; bail was set at $800 ($5,185 in 2014 dollars[30]).[31]

Showing solidarity with students, 177 faculty members said that they were "unwilling to teach until peace has been achieved by the removal of police and troops."[26] On May 23, the Berkeley faculty senate endorsed (642 to 95) a proposal by the College of Environmental Designs to have the park become the centerpiece of an experiment in community-generated design.[32]

In a separate university referendum, UC Berkeley students voted 12.719 to 2.175 in favor of keeping the park; the turnout represents about half of the registered student body.[32][33]

Institutional response to protests

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Law enforcement was using a new form of crowd control, pepper gas. The editorial offices of Berkeley Tribe were sprayed with pepper gas and had tear gas canisters fired into the offices, injuring underground press staff.

On May 20, 1969, National Guard helicopters flew over the Berkeley campus, dispensing airborne tear gas that winds dispersed over the entire city, sending school children miles away to hospitals. This was one of the largest deployments of tear gas during the Vietnam era protests.[34] Governor Reagan would concede that this might have been a "tactical mistake."[35] It had not yet been banned from warfare under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

The Washington Post wrote of the incident in an editorial: "[T]he indiscriminate gassing of a thousand people not at the time in violation of any law seems more than a little excessive." The editorial also criticized legislation before the U.S. House of Representatives that would have "cut off Federal aid to universities which fail to head off campus disorders."[36]

That legislation, the Higher Education Protection and Freedom of Expression Act of 1969 (Campus Disorder Bill, HR 11941, 91st Congress), was a response to mass protests and demonstrations at universities and colleges across the nation. It was introduced by House Special Subcommittee on Education chair Rep. Edith Green (D-OR). The bill would have required colleges and universities to file plans of action for dealing with campus unrest with the U.S. Commissioner of Education. The bill gave the institutions the power to suspend federal aid to students convicted—in court or by the university—of violating campus rules in connection with student riots. Any school that did not file such plans would lose federal funding.[37][38][39]

Governor Reagan supported the federal legislation; in a March 19, 1969 statement, he urged Congress to "be equally concerned about those who commit violence who are not receiving aid." On May 20, 1969, Attorney General John N. Mitchell advised the Committee that existing law was "adequate."[37]

Peaceful protest

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On May 30, 1969, 30.000 Berkeley citizens (out of a population of 100.000) secured a city permit and marched without incident past the barricaded People’s Park to protest Governor Reagans occupation of their city, the death of James Rector, the blinding of Alan Blanchard, and the many injuries inflicted by police.[8] Young girls slid flowers down the muzzles of bayoneted National Guard rifles,[28] and a small airplane flew over the city trailing a banner that read, "Let A Thousand Parks Bloom."[8][40]

Nevertheless, over the next few weeks National Guard troops broke up any assemblies of more than four persons who congregated for any purpose on the streets of Berkeley, day or night. In the early summer, troops deployed in downtown Berkeley surrounded several thousand protesters and bystanders, emptying businesses, restaurants, and retail outlets of their owners and customers, and arresting them en masse.

A year later

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In an address before the California Council of Growers on April 7, 1970, almost a year after "Bloody Thursday" and the death of James Rector, Governor Reagan defended his decision to use the California National Guard to quell Berkeley protests: "If it takes a bloodbath, let’s get it over with. No more appeasement."[41] Berkeley Tribe editors decided to issue this quote in large type on the cover of its next edition.[42][43][44][45]

Context

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Die May 1969 confrontation in People's Park grew out of the counterculture of the 1960s, pitting flower children against the Establishment.[33] Berkeley had been the site of the first large-scale antiwar demonstration in the country on September 30, 1964.[46]

Among the student protests of the late 1960s, the People's Park confrontation came after the 1968 protests at Columbia University and the Democratic National Convention, but before the Kent State killings and the burning of a branch of Bank of America in Isla Vista.[47] Closer to home, it occurred on the heels of the Stanford University April 3 movement, where students protested University-sponsored war-related research by occupying Encina Hall.[48]

Unlike other student protests of the late 1960s, most of which were at least partly in opposition to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, the initial protests at People's Park were mostly in response to a local disagreement about land use.

1970s

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Unofficial memorial: 25 years of People's Park. "Remove parking lot, put in a paradise" is an allusion to Joni Mitchell’s Song "Big Yellow Taxi".

After the peaceful march in support of People’s Park on May 30, 1969, the university decided to keep the 8-foot-tall perimeter chain-link wire fence and maintain a 24-hour guard over the site. On June 20, the University of California Regents voted to turn the People’s Park site into a soccer field and parking lot.

Im März 1971, when it seemed as though construction of the parking lot and soccer field might proceed, another People’s Park protest occurred, resulting in 44 arrests.

Im Mai 1972, an outraged crowd tore down the perimeter chain-link wire fence surrounding the People's Park site after President Richard Nixon announced his intention to mine North Vietnam's main port. In September, the Berkeley City Council voted to lease the park site from the university. The Berkeley community rebuilt the park, mainly with donated labor and materials. Various local groups contributed to managing the park during rebuilding.

1979, the university tried to convert the west end of the park, which was already a no-cost parking lot, into a fee lot for students and faculty only. The west end of the park was (and remains) the location of the People’s Stage, a permanent bandstand that had just been erected on the edge of the lawn within the no-cost parking lot. Completed in the spring of 1979, it had been designed and constructed through user-development and voluntary community participation. This effort was coordinated by the People’s Park Council, a democratic group of park advocates, and the People’s Park Project/Native Plant Forum. Park users and organizers believed that the university's main purpose in attempting to convert the parking lot was the destruction of the People’s Stage in order to suppress free speech and music, both in the park and in the neighborhood south of campus as a whole. It was also widely believed that the foray into the west end warned of the dispossession of the entire park for the purpose of university construction. A spontaneous protest in the fall of 1979 led to an occupation of the west end that continued uninterrupted throughout December 1979. Park volunteers tore up the asphalt and heaped it up as barricades next to the sidewalks along Dwight Way and Haste Street. This confrontation led to negotiations between the university and the park activists. The park activists were led by the People's Park Council, which included park organizers and occupiers, as well as other community members. The university eventually capitulated. Meanwhile, the occupiers, organizers, and volunteer gardeners transformed the former parking lot into a newly cultivated organic community gardening area, which remains to this day.

Jungle gym sculpture from the People’s Park Annex Period (photo from 2011)

People’s Park Annex/Ohlone Park

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In the immediate aftermath of the May 1969 People’s Park demonstrations, and consistent with their goal of "letting a thousand parks bloom," People’s Park activists began gardening a two-block strip of land called the "Hearst Corridor," located adjacent to Hearst Avenue just northwest of the university campus. The Hearst Corridor was a strip of land along the north side of Hearst Avenue that had been left largely untended after the houses had been torn down to facilitate completion of an underground subway line by the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District.

During the 1970s, local residents, especially George Garvin, pursued gardening and user development of this land, which became known as "People’s Park Annex." Later on, additional volunteers donated time and energy to the Annex, led by David Axelrod and Charlotte Pyle, urban gardeners who were among the original organizers of the People’s Park Project/Native Plant Forum.

As neighborhood and community groups stepped up their support for the preservation and development of the Annex, BART abandoned its original plan to build apartment complexes on Hearst Corridor. The City of Berkeley negotiated with BART to secure permanent above-ground rights to the entire five block strip of land, between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Sacramento Avenue. By the early 1980s, this land had become a city park comprising 9.8|acre , which residents decided to name "Ohlone Park" in honor of the Ohlone band of Native Americans who once lived there.

Today, the Berkeley Parks and Recreation Commission mediates neighborhood and community feedback concerning issues of park design and the maintenance, operation, and development of Ohlone Park amenities. These amenities—which include pedestrian and bicycle paths, children's playgrounds, a dog park, basketball and volleyball courts, a softball/soccer field, toilets, picnic areas, and community gardens—continue to serve the people and pets of Berkeley.

Subsequent history

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The park has seen various projects come and go over the decades. The "Free Box" operated as a clothes donation dropoff site for many years until it was destroyed by arson in 1995. Subsequent attempts to rebuild it were dismantled by University police.

The university built sand volleyball courts at the south end of the park in 1991. Protesters demonstrated against the project, at times sitting on the volleyball courts to prevent their use. The courts eventually were dismantled in 1997.

In 2011, People's Park saw a new wave of protests, known as the "tree-sit." It consisted of a series of individual "tree-sitters" who occupied a wooden platform in one of the trees in People’s Park. The protests were troubled by abrupt interruptions and altercations. One protester was arrested,[49] another fell from the tree while sleeping.[50] But despite the transitions and overlapping political platforms, such as the 10 PM curfew[51] and the university's plans for development, the protests lasted throughout most of the fall of 2011. The tree-sits were also supported by Zachary RunningWolf, a Berkeley activist and several-time mayoral candidate, who actively spoke to the media about the protesters and the causes they were championing.[49] RunningWolf claimed that the central motive for the protests was to demonstrate that "poverty is not a crime."[50]

Despite the protests, in late 2011, UC Berkeley bulldozed the west end of People's Park, tearing up the decades-old community garden and plowing down mature trees in what a press release issued by the school described as an effort to provide students and the broader community with safer, more sanitary conditions.[52][53] This angered some Berkeley students and residents, who noted that the bulldozing took place during winter break when many students were away from campus, and followed the administration-backed police response at Occupy Cal less than two months prior.

People’s Park has been the subject of long-running contention between those who see it as a memorial to the Free Speech Movement and a haven for the poor; and those who describe it as crime-infested and unfriendly to families. While the park has public bathrooms, gardens, and a playground area, many residents do not see it as a welcoming place, citing drug use and a high crime rate.[54] A San Francisco Chronicle article on January 13, 2008 referred to People's Park as "a forlorn and somewhat menacing hub for drug users and the homeless." The same article quoted denizens and supporters of the park saying it was "perfectly safe, clean and accessible."[55] Im Mai 2018, UC Berkeley reported that campus police had been called 1.585 times to People’s Park in the previous year.[56] The University also said there had been 10.102 criminal incidents in the park between 2012 and 2017.[57]

Proposed development

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2018, UC Berkeley unveiled a plan for People's Park that would include the construction of housing for as many as 1.000 students, supportive housing for the homeless or military veterans, and a memorial honoring the park's history and legacy.[56][57][58][59]

Siehe auch

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Einzelnachweise

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  1. ↑ a b c Rone Tempest: It’s Still a Batlefield. L. A. Times. articles.latimes.com 4. Dezember 2006}}
  2. ↑ a b Jessica Meyers: A Portrait of People’s Park. Northgate News Online. journalism.berkeley.edu 2006-09-12 Archivlink
  3. ↑ a b David Wagner: Hip-Hop Festival Takes Over People’s Park. The Daily Californian. 5. Mai 2008. Archivlink
  4. ↑ a b Rachel Gross: Residents, Homeless Try to Coexist by People’s Park. 26. Januar 2009. Archivlink
  5. ↑ A People’s History of Telegraph Avenue. Berkeley Historical Plaque Project. berkeleyplaques.org
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g Richard Brenneman: The Bloody Beginnings of People’s Park. In: The Berkeley Daily Planet. berkeleydailyplanet.com 20. April 2004.
  7. ↑ Retired Lieutenant John E. Jones: A Brief History of University of California Police Department, Berkeley. August 2006. Archivlink
  8. ↑ a b c d e Joan Lowe: People’s Park, Berkeley. Stories from the American Friends Service Committee’s Past. Archivlink
  9. ↑ People’s Park Fights UC Land Use Policy; One Dead, Thousands Tear Gassed. Picture This: California’s Perspectives on American History. Oakland Museum of California.
  10. ↑ a b Alicia Wittmeyer: From Rubble to Refuge. The Daily Californian. archive.dailycal.org 2004-04-26.
  11. ↑ a b Mark Kitchell: Dokumentarfilm Berkeley in the Sixties. imdb.com Liberation. Januar 1990.
  12. ↑ Chronology of People’s Park – The Old Days. peoplespark.org.
  13. ↑ Langdon Winner: What’s Next – Bombs? beauty-reality.com 16. Februar 2007. Archivlink
  14. ↑ a b c d Seth Rosenfeld: Part 4: The governor’s race. San Francisco Chronicle. sfgate.com 9. Juni 2002.
  15. ↑ Jeffery Kahn: Ronald Reagan launched political career using the Berkeley campus as a target. 8. Juni 2004.
  16. ↑ Cobbs-Hoffman, Blum, Gjerde 2012: S. 423.
  17. ↑ „most violent confrontation in the university’s history.“ People’s Park Fights UC Land Use Policy; One Dead, Thousands Tear Gassed. Oakland Museum of California. museumca.org.
  18. ↑ everything2.com Andere Quellen behaupten, das Siegel sagte: „I have a suggestion. Let’s go down to the People’s Park–“.
  19. ↑ People’s History Of Berkeley. Barrington Collective. barringtoncollective.org. 26. Februar 2007. Archivlink
  20. ↑ a b c John Jones: UCPD Berkeley: History Topic: People’s Park . UCPD Berkeley. police.berkeley.edu Archivlink
  21. ↑ a b c d Elizabeth Cobbs-Hoffman, Edward Blum, Jon Gjerde: Major Problems in American History. Vol. II: Since 1865, third edition. Wadsworth 2012. google books ISBN 978-1111343163
  22. ↑ The Battle of People’s Park. beauty-reality.com.Archivlink
  23. ↑ a b c „The choice was essentially this: to use shotguns—because we didn't have the available manpower—or retreat and abandon the City of Berkeley to the mob.“ Berkeley Daily Gazette: Sheriff Frank Madigan. 30. Mai 1969.
  24. ↑ a b „as though they were Viet Cong“. People’s Park. beauty-reality.com. Archivlink
  25. ↑ a b c d California: Postscript to People’s Park. In: Time, 16. Februar 1970.
  26. ↑ a b Confrontation at Berkeley Turns Into Calm Songfest | date = May 21, 1969 | newspaper = The Washington Post | first = Rasa Gustaitis | publisher = ProQuest Historical Newspapers |pages = A12
  27. ↑ Rasa Gustaitis: Helicopter Sprays Gas On Berkeley 'Mourners': Guardsman Led Away. In: The Washington Post. 21. Mai 1969: S. A6 via ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
  28. ↑ a b c d Smitha, Frank E.|url=http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch28B.htm|title=The Sixties and Seventies from Berkeley to Woodstock|work=Microhistory and World Report|accessdate=July 23, 2008
  29. ↑ 50 Are Injured In Berkeley Fray | date = May 16, 1969 | newspaper = The Washington Post | first = Rasa Gustaitis | publisher = ProQuest Historical Newspapers | pages=A3
  30. ↑ [http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=800&year1=1969&year2=2014 |accessdate= 9 October 2014 |title=BLS inflation calculator
  31. ↑ 250 Seized in Berkeley Park Clash | date = May 23, 1969 | newspaper = The Washington Post | publisher = ProQuest Historical Newspapers | pages=A4
  32. ↑ a b Faculty at Berkeley Votes For 'Park' as Experiment | date = May 24, 1969 | newspaper = The Washington Post | first = Rasa Gustaitis | publisher = ProQuest Historical Newspapers | pages=A6
  33. ↑ a b Occupied Berkeley [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,840109-1,00.html In: Time Magazine Time Inc. May 30, 1969.
  34. ↑ 100 Years of Tear Gas | newspaper = The Atlantic | url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/08/100-years-of-tear-gas/378632/2/ | date= 16 August 2014 | accessdate= 9 October 2014 | author= Anna Feigenbaum
  35. ↑ UC Professors Confront Reagan | volume = 55 | date = 22 May 1969 | issue =65 | author= AP | url= http://stanford.dlconsulting.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19690522-01.2.10&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------# | accessdate= 9 October 2014
  36. ↑ Fanning the Fire | date = May 24, 1969 | newspaper = The Washington Post | author = Editorial | publisher = ProQuest Historical Newspapers | pages=A14
  37. ↑ a b Campus Disorder Bill | journal= CQ Almanac 1969 | edition= 25th | pages = 726–29 | publisher= Congressional Quarterly | date = 1970 | accessdate = 9 October 2014 | location = Washington, DC | url =http://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal69-1246785
  38. ↑ Campus Unrest: Illusion and Reality | first= Francis | last= Smith | journal= William & Mary Law Review | volume= 11 | issue = 3 | date = 1970 | accessdate = 9 October 2014 | url =http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr/vol11/iss3/6/
  39. ↑ Aid to education, student unrest, and cutoff legislation: an overview | first= Gregory | last= Keeney | journal= University of Pennsylvania Law Review | volume= 119 | issue= 6 | date = 1970 | pages = 1003–1034 | accessdate = 9 October 2014 | url =http://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5841&context=penn_law_review | doi= 10.2307/3311201 | jstor= 3311201
  40. ↑ UC Berkeley Grapples Again with a Troubled People’s Park. September 21, 2006|publisher=North Gate News Online|accessdate=May 14, 2013 Archivlink
  41. ↑ [https://books.google.com/books?id=E9_8gHXmqCgC&pg=RA1-PA295&lpg=RA1-PA295|title=Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power|accessdate=2008-03-10|page=295|author=Lou Cannon|year=2003|publisher=Public Affairs|isbn=1-58648-284-X
  42. ↑ The Campaign Against the Underground Press.] Rips, Geoffrey|work=History is a Weapon [http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/unameractrips.html}}
  43. ↑ Peck|first=Abe|title=Uncovering the Sixties: the life and times of the underground press|year=1985|publisher=Pantheon Books|location=New York|isbn=9780394527932|edition=1st|pages=278–279, 288
  44. ↑ Armstrong|first=David: A Trumpet to Arms: Alternative Media in America|year=1981|publisher=South End Press|location=Boston, Massachusetts|isbn=9780896081932|edition=1st|page=175
  45. ↑ Zald|first=Anne E.|author2=Whitaker, Cathy Seitz|title=The underground press of the Vietnam era: An annotated bibliography|journal=Reference Services Review|date=1 January 1990|volume=18|issue=4|pages=76–96|doi=10.1108/eb049109
  46. ↑ First large scale antiwar demonstration staged at Berkeley. This Day In History | accessdate = 9 October 2014
  47. ↑ Lodise|first=Carmen: A People’s History of Isla Vista|year=2002
  48. ↑ [http://historicalsociety.stanford.edu/pdfST/ST35no1.pdf Winter 2011 |volume = 35 |issue = 1 |title = The Troubles at Stanford: Student Uprisings in the 1960s and ’70s. |journal = Sandstone & Tile |accessdate = 9 October 2014 Archivlink
  49. ↑ a b Tree-sitter renews People’s Park protest. The Daily Californian|date=2011-08-29|work=The Daily Californian|access-date=2018-05-04
  50. ↑ a b Tree-sitter falls from tree, protest ends. The Daily Californian|date=2011-09-07|work=The Daily Californian|access-date=2018-05-04
  51. ↑ People’s Park tree-sitter preaches park issues to passersby. The Daily Californian|date=2011-09-30|work=The Daily Californian|access-date=2018-05-04
  52. ↑ Sciacca|first1=Annie|title=Contention resurfaces with People’s Park maintenance project [http://www.dailycal.org/2012/01/23/contention-resurfaces-with-peoples-park-maintenance-project/|website=DailyCal.org|publisher=The Daily Californian (UC Berkeley)|accessdate=4 May 2018|date=23 January 2012.
  53. ↑ Flash: UC Berkeley Bulldozes People’s Park to Make It More 'Sanitary'. The Berkeley Daily Planet|author=Denney, Carol|date=December 28, 2011
  54. ↑ Tamara Keith: People’s Park Is Melting in the Dark...] [http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/1999/0414/keith.html |work=The Berkeleyan |publisher=The Regents of the University of California |date=April 14, 1999
  55. ↑ UC Berkeley seeks public’s views to plan new path for People’s Park. San Francisco Chronicle |date=January 13, 2008| first=Carolyn| last=Jones}}
  56. ↑ a b New UC Berkeley plans for People’s Park call for student, homeless housing.] [http://news.berkeley.edu/2018/05/03/new-uc-berkeley-plans-for-peoples-park-call-for-student-homeless-housing/|website=berkeley.edu/news|publisher=University of California, Berkeley|accessdate=4 May 2018}}
  57. ↑ a b Dinkelspiel|first1=Frances|title=UC Berkeley confirms that a dorm for 1K students will be built in People’s Park.] [http://www.berkeleyside.com/2018/05/03/uc-berkeley-confirms-that-a-dorm-for-1k-students-will-be-built-in-peoples-park|website=Berkeleyside.com|publisher=Berkeleyside|accessdate=4 May 2018
  58. ↑ Asimov|first1=Nanette|title=UC Berkeley’s plans for People’s Park include five-story building plus memorial.] [https://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/UC-Berkeley-s-plans-for-People-s-Park-include-12886483.php|website=sfchronicle.com|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|accessdate=4 May 2018}}
  59. ↑ Watanabe|first1=Teresa|title=On the grounds of People’s Park, UC Berkeley proposes housing for students and the homeless.] [http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-uc-berkeley-peoples-park-20180503-htmlstory.html latimes.com|publisher=Los Angeles Times|accessdate=4. Mai 2018

Quellen

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  • California Governor's Office. The "People's Park" - A Report on the Confrontation at Berkeley, California. Submitted to Gov. Ronald Reagan. July 1, 1969.
  • Gruen, Gruen and Associates. Southside Student Housing Project Preliminary Environmental Study. Report to UCB Chancellor. February 1974.
  • People’s Park Handbills. Distributed May–April 1969. Located at the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
  • Pichirall, Joe. The Daily Californian. Cover Story on People’s Park. May 16, 1969.
  • "Reagan’s Reaction to Riot: Call Park Here 'Excuse'" The Daily Californian. May 16, 1969.
  • Statement on People’s Park. University of California, Berkeley – Office of Public Information. April 30, 1969.
  • Weiss, Norman. The Daily Californian. "People’s Park: Then & Now." March 17, 1997.

Literatur

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  • Terri Compost (ed.): People’s Park: Still Blooming. Slingshot! Collective 2009. ISBN 9780984120802
  • Tom Dalzell, Foreword by Todd Gitlin, Afterword by Steve Wasserman: Battle for People’s Park, Berkeley 1969. Heyday Books 2019. ISBN 9781597144681 Eyewitness testimonies and hundreds of remarkable, often previously unpublished photographs.
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Koordinaten: 37° 51′ 56″ N, 122° 15′ 25″ W Kategorie:Parks in Berkeley, California Kategorie:Guerrilla gardening Kategorie:History of Berkeley, California Kategorie:University of California, Berkeley Kategorie:Culture of Berkeley, California Kategorie:Crime in the San Francisco Bay Area Kategorie:Police brutality in the United States Kategorie:Military history of California Kategorie:Military in the San Francisco Bay Area Kategorie:Politics of the San Francisco Bay Area Kategorie:1969 in California Kategorie:Tourist attractions in Berkeley, California Kategorie:Riots and protests at UC Berkeley Kategorie:Protests in the San Francisco Bay Area

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