over the last year, several thousand dollars have been raised to cover both the legal fees of the eris defendants and repay our benefactors. in an overwhelming show of camaraderie, the new orleans-based community of anarchists, artists, punks, drunks, queers, bikers, ravers, writers, travelers, transplants, circus freaks, computer geeks, and pleasure sheiks have devoted much in the way of time, energy, and money to support both the defendants and the overlying spirit of the parade itself. and more recently, folks in oakland and nyc have held benefits to appease eris. this got me thinking - what about motherfucking chicago?
[as a former resident of rogers park on the northside, i often find myself overcome with nostalgia for the city. i've worked all over that bitch, and biked all over it too. ostensibly, chicago is where i became an adult, and where i first began to question my surroundings in a political way. so i'm not just begging money from a city with a larger population and a larger collective bank balance than new orleans, i'm begging money from i city that i absolutely love.]
HERE'S WHAT WE WANT YOU TO DO, CHICAGO:
in the spirit of eris, throw a party. it's just that simple. as big and grandiose as you can muster; a party with music, dancing, homemade costumes, the like. create an insane spectacle, one that tests the very limits of human grace and reason. and then kick us a few bones from the door, y'know what i mean?
in return, you can feel confident that you have contributed to a social cause of ambiguous moral intent and subversive inclination. also, you are now and forever invited to partake in any debauchery of your choosing in and around the beautiful crescent. i hereby declare you welcome with legs wide open.
HERE ARE SOME HELPFUL LINKS:
principia discordia
the seminal text of the discordian religious movement is also a well of ideological inspiration for the krewe of eris.
eris12.org
our local blog outlining the 2011 incident and the subsequent fund-raising effort
nola.com article
there are several of these out in the ether, some more infuriating than others. just like every other fucking article on nola.com, the comments section is solid gold.
arrested at the eris parade
a personal account from an eris defendant
video of police brutality
once again, a couple of videos are out there. this one includes tasering, screaming, and the wail of a lone horn from the crowd. search "eris parade 2011" for more videos on youtube - they are too gut-wrenching for me to post here en masse.
that's all for now, folks. i will return. until then, HAIL ERIS.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
2. what happened last year during the parade?
well, that's a doozy. to begin, the bp oil spill in the spring preceding mardi gras had filled the city with trenchant feelings of betrayal, disbelief, and anxiety. rightly so, because before the leak would finally be capped after weeks of plunder, millions upon millions of gallons of oil and chemical dispersant would foul the gulf of mexico. oh, and in case your wondering, the muck is still there. the dispersants (which in most cases were very chemically similar to antifreeze) sprayed by bp onto the slick separated the oil into tiny particles which sank to the bottom of the ocean where they might be "out of sight and out of mind." BUT - what does the worst environmental disaster in recent US history have to do with the violent break-up of the 2011 eris parade?
the theme of eris 2011 was 'mutagenesis', and participants were encouraged to build costumes and floats with one thing in mind - the chemical poisoning of louisiana's ecosystems at the hands of big oil. accordingly, in the minutes before the parade began to roll from press st. after sundown, a bizarre menagerie of mutated animals and plants assembled and began to clamor.
the parade was large that year, larger than it had ever been. everything started without a hitch; the krewe's band and flag corps led us into the fauborg marigny (a neighborhood just downriver from the french quarter), and the spectacle was underway. marchers chanted and sang along with the music, colorful floats of garuda and the hydra crawled along next to snake goddesses and bog worshippers, and torchieres illuminated the ecstatic faces of those in the crowd. from a balcony window, some happy soul dropped a load of hand-printed cards that read, "CARNIVAL 2011 - WE ARE IN HEAVEN!"
after crossing over frenchmen st., the mood began to change. the crush had grown so large. some exuberant marchers had begun to walk on cars, hopping from roof to roof. a fire-spitter, covered in phallic tendrils that whipped haphazardly through the band, shot flames high above the crowd from atop a truck. as the streets narrowed, the parade was tightly funneled into the french quarter and into the jurisdiction of the nopd's 8th district. they, in response, packed the rear of the parade with squad cars to push us out of the quarter. with sirens blaring and tensions mounting, the parade crossed back over esplanade ave. effectively, the quarter cops had pushed us into the jurisdiction of another district, one in fact notorious for brutality.
the nopd's 5th district met us on chartres st., and soon revelry dissolved into chaos. dozens of squad cars pushed in from three sides, and the street was filled with deafening noise. pushing through the line of cars at the rear, i could hardly see for all the flashing blue lights - but i could hear people shouting and screaming, as well as booming voices ordering us to disperse.
residents of the marigny watched from their windows in disbelief as parade-goers were shoved, tackled, beaten, tasered, and blasted with pepper spray. when the smoke cleared, the parade was in shambles and 12 people were in jail. those who were arrested in costume were forced to strip in the street, and taken into custody in their underwear.
in the temporary custody of the 5th district police, arrestees were denied medical attention (one arrestee had a skull fracture and could only lean bleeding against a wall for hours), denied any list of their charges, threatened with bodily harm and supremely derogatory language, and "jokingly" sprayed down with aerosol bathroom freshener. only after being transferred to orleans parish prison (OPP), waiting for the sun to come up and prison staff to change shifts - a period of roughly 14 hours in custody without explanation - only then were the arrestees given clothes and read their charges. they were extreme, ranging from disturbing the peace and resisting arrest to battery of a police officer, criminal destruction of property, and assisting escape. arrestees were told that because they were taken in on the day before mardi gras, they would have to wait for days to see a judge, as was customary. however, thanks to an immediate, torrential response from the community, money for bail was already being collected all over town and lawyers were preparing themselves for court. after roughly 30 hours in police custody, the eris arrestees were released either on bail or of their own recognizance.
that was a little less than a year ago. to date, some arrestees still have not actually gone to trial. months of status hearings, court appearances, and bureaucratic nonsense - in fact the kind of behavior the justice system of louisiana is famous for throughout the state. in september, one arrestee, pleading not guilty with substantial video evidence maintaining his innocence, was convicted and spent 45 days in jail.
the saga continues. fortunately, the eris defendants have some support. local benefit events, concerts, and variety acts have all raised money to cover legal fees and repay bail money. both private and non-profit donors have come out of the woodwork. all the love, all the tireless effort and planning has not left off, even in the light of this year's upcoming eris event. and, to finally round out a point, communities in other cities have begun to generously raise funds for eris, and that's where you come in, chicago...
the theme of eris 2011 was 'mutagenesis', and participants were encouraged to build costumes and floats with one thing in mind - the chemical poisoning of louisiana's ecosystems at the hands of big oil. accordingly, in the minutes before the parade began to roll from press st. after sundown, a bizarre menagerie of mutated animals and plants assembled and began to clamor.
the parade was large that year, larger than it had ever been. everything started without a hitch; the krewe's band and flag corps led us into the fauborg marigny (a neighborhood just downriver from the french quarter), and the spectacle was underway. marchers chanted and sang along with the music, colorful floats of garuda and the hydra crawled along next to snake goddesses and bog worshippers, and torchieres illuminated the ecstatic faces of those in the crowd. from a balcony window, some happy soul dropped a load of hand-printed cards that read, "CARNIVAL 2011 - WE ARE IN HEAVEN!"
after crossing over frenchmen st., the mood began to change. the crush had grown so large. some exuberant marchers had begun to walk on cars, hopping from roof to roof. a fire-spitter, covered in phallic tendrils that whipped haphazardly through the band, shot flames high above the crowd from atop a truck. as the streets narrowed, the parade was tightly funneled into the french quarter and into the jurisdiction of the nopd's 8th district. they, in response, packed the rear of the parade with squad cars to push us out of the quarter. with sirens blaring and tensions mounting, the parade crossed back over esplanade ave. effectively, the quarter cops had pushed us into the jurisdiction of another district, one in fact notorious for brutality.
the nopd's 5th district met us on chartres st., and soon revelry dissolved into chaos. dozens of squad cars pushed in from three sides, and the street was filled with deafening noise. pushing through the line of cars at the rear, i could hardly see for all the flashing blue lights - but i could hear people shouting and screaming, as well as booming voices ordering us to disperse.
residents of the marigny watched from their windows in disbelief as parade-goers were shoved, tackled, beaten, tasered, and blasted with pepper spray. when the smoke cleared, the parade was in shambles and 12 people were in jail. those who were arrested in costume were forced to strip in the street, and taken into custody in their underwear.
in the temporary custody of the 5th district police, arrestees were denied medical attention (one arrestee had a skull fracture and could only lean bleeding against a wall for hours), denied any list of their charges, threatened with bodily harm and supremely derogatory language, and "jokingly" sprayed down with aerosol bathroom freshener. only after being transferred to orleans parish prison (OPP), waiting for the sun to come up and prison staff to change shifts - a period of roughly 14 hours in custody without explanation - only then were the arrestees given clothes and read their charges. they were extreme, ranging from disturbing the peace and resisting arrest to battery of a police officer, criminal destruction of property, and assisting escape. arrestees were told that because they were taken in on the day before mardi gras, they would have to wait for days to see a judge, as was customary. however, thanks to an immediate, torrential response from the community, money for bail was already being collected all over town and lawyers were preparing themselves for court. after roughly 30 hours in police custody, the eris arrestees were released either on bail or of their own recognizance.
that was a little less than a year ago. to date, some arrestees still have not actually gone to trial. months of status hearings, court appearances, and bureaucratic nonsense - in fact the kind of behavior the justice system of louisiana is famous for throughout the state. in september, one arrestee, pleading not guilty with substantial video evidence maintaining his innocence, was convicted and spent 45 days in jail.
the saga continues. fortunately, the eris defendants have some support. local benefit events, concerts, and variety acts have all raised money to cover legal fees and repay bail money. both private and non-profit donors have come out of the woodwork. all the love, all the tireless effort and planning has not left off, even in the light of this year's upcoming eris event. and, to finally round out a point, communities in other cities have begun to generously raise funds for eris, and that's where you come in, chicago...
1. what is going on here? what is the eris parade?
every year the krewe of eris rolls like a phantasmagorical tide through downtown new orleans a few days before mardi gras. it is an event held dear by our own scrappy community of artists, musicians, organizers, anarchists, travelers, and revelers - the name of the krewe itself pays homage to the greek goddess of chaos and subversion. folks of all stripes spend weeks working together to create elaborate costumes, floats, musical pieces, and dance troupes for this momentous night - the point of which is to celebrate the weird, the beautiful, and the willfully resistant apsects of our lives here in new orleans.
yes, i said 'resistant'. many who attend the parade work hard year-round to resist the oppressive forces of social normalcy, indoctrinated racism and homophobia, gentrification, corporatism, and ignorance that plague our city (and yours!). the myth of eris - who threw the apple of discord between three powerful and vainglorious goddesses, thereby instigating the trojan war - is often considered tantamount to an act of disharmony, discontent, and disapproval of the larger-than-life structures of power.
but political dissent is not the only reason that members of our community rally behind the krewe of eris. the aesthetic of the parade itself beckons to the local DIY movement. the opportunity to come together with close friends, gather discarded materials from all over the city, and assemble fantastic carnival regalia is a difficult one to turn down, to say the very least.
finally, to understand the eris parade, one must consider the larger culture of celebration within new orleans. it is unlike any other city on the planet for this reason - we spend considerable amounts of time and energy celebrating in a seemingly endless stream of holidays, feasts, and memorials. we march in the streets when we are full of happiness and wonder, we create spectacle to let everyone know that we are proud to be alive and full of creative energy. we also march when we are overcome with grief and sorrow, or when we wish to remember the dead. native new orleanians and transplants alike come together to enjoy these powerful affirmations with one another. and the eris parade, in the spirit of mardi gras, won't be contained or instructed how to celebrate.
GET A CLOSER LOOK:
MORE TO FOLLOW.
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