DIY in 2009

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Its a bit late, but in preparation for the 1st issue of my new zine, DIY 2010, I’ve been compiling a list of notable events from 2009.  Is there something important to DIY culture that you don’t see here?  Let me know!

January

  • New device uses laser beams to project your own lane from the back of your bicycle,
  • Shooting of Oscar Grant in Oakland, California, sparks months of protests and clashes with police,
  • Canada is no longer a safe place for U.S. war resisters
  • Faythe Levine releases her documentary “Handmade Nation” alongside her book “Craft’s New Wave”,
  • FCC Free Radio begins broadcasting
  • Make Magazine begins airing a new national TV series
  • Bolivia approves of a new constitution that creates a ministry in support of indigenous autonomy

February

  • Artist Shepard Fairey is arrested on graffiti charges
  • Victory for workers at Republic Windows in Chicago,
  • Chicago activists prevent the closure of schools,
  • Immigrants awaiting deportation at at privately-run jail in Texas riot,
  • Students take over NYU,
  • A general strike cripples the French Caribbean islands
  • Chicago hosts Art & Code hack conference

March

  • Craigslist accused of facilitating prostitution
  • FCC raids Street Heat pirate radio station in Orange County,
  • Rhizome Collective dies a slow death
  • Twin Cities Activists fight foreclosures
  • Workers at the Stella D’oro Cookie Factory in the Bronx strike,
  • City From Below conference in Baltimore
  • Copyright Criminals, film on remixing, makes its debut
  • ZAPP hosts the Zine Librarian Conference in Seattle, Washington

April

  • Jury Rules in Favor of Ward Churchill,
  • “Tea Party” protests on Tax Day give potential to a new “grassroots” conservatism
  • Protestors battle police outside of the meeting of the International Monetary Fund
  • Feminists from around the globe meet in Seoul to from the Network of “GloCal” Activism

May

  • The Department of Justice drops its case against 1st Lt. Ehren Watada
  • In response to the Board of Educations layoff vote, Los Angeles teachers subjected themselves to arrest
  • California Supreme Court’s rules in favor of Proposition 8 banning future same-sex marriages – prompting protests nationwide
  • Free Skool Santa Cruz hosts the first North American Free Skool Conference
  • Fanzinotheque hosts the 1st International Meeting of Zine Libraries in Poitiers, France

June

  • Los Angeles Teaches Enter Hunger Strike
  • Shell Forced to Pay $15.5M for Complicity in Execution of Activist Ken Saro-Wiwa
  • City of Grand Junction, Colorado prevented from passing ordinances outlawing “soliciting,”
  • Honduran military oust the government of Honduras, provoking months of grassroots resistance from the community
  • DIY activist Samantha Dorsett – founder of DIY punk label Plan-it-X Records and the infoshop Secret Sailor Books – dies

July

  • Los Angeles activists form People’s Assembly for Popular Education & Liberation to start their own summer school

August

  • Occupation at Rosemary Williams’ home at 3138 Clinton in Minneapolis, in protest of foreclosures
  • Radical Faeries lay movement founders’ Burnside and Hay to rest

September

  • Activists converge on Pittsburgh to protest the G20 summit
  • Community Shuts Down Nazi Rally in Riverside, CA
  • A massive walk-out spans California’s universities and campus buildings begin to be taken over by students

October

  • Elinor Ostrom wins the Nobel Prize in Economics for her work proving the success of The Commons
  • Floating structures converge on the Sacramento River Delta for the first Ephemerisle Festival

November

  • Spokane, Washington residents succeeded in bringing an innovative “Community Bill of Rights” to the ballot
  • Indymedia.us successfully fights back a bogus subpoena request issued by the FBI
  • Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign creates a successful blockade at the home of Lenise Forrest
  • Philly Protesters Seize Street to Demand Housing Rights
  • University of California approves layoffs, furloughs, and massive hikes in student fees – spurring protests and occupations

December

  • Klamath Justice Coalition Halts Logging on Karuk Sacred Sites

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