Nimbin facing 'overdue' cop crackdown

[Al B. Fuct]

Giuliani and Broken Windows from Wikipedia:

 

The theory in action

 

The book's author, George L. Kelling, was hired as a consultant to the New York City Transit Authority in 1985, and robust measures to test the Broken Windows theory were implemented by David Gunn. Graffiti vandalism was intensively targeted, and the system was cleaned line by line and car by car from 1984 until 1990. Kelling has also been hired as a consultant to the LAPD and to the Boston Police Department.

 

In 1990 William J. Bratton became head of the Transit Police. Bratton described George L. Kelling as his "intellectual mentor", and implemented zero tolerance of fare-dodging, easier arrestee processing methods and background checks on all those arrested. Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani also adopted the strategy more widely in New York City, from his election in 1993, under the rubrics of 'zero tolerance' and 'quality of life'.

 

Thus, Giuliani's "zero tolerance" roll out was part of an interlocking set of wider reforms, crucial parts of which had been underway since 1985. Giuliani had the police even more strictly enforce the law against subway fare evasion, and stopped public drinkers, urinators, and the "squeegee men" who had been wiping windshields of stopped cars and demanding payment. Rates of both petty and serious crime fell suddenly and significantly, and continued to drop for the following ten years (see: the 2001 study of crime trends in New York by George Kelling and William Sousa, and the 2002 study by Hope Corman).

 

Will anyone notice that Nimbin isn't NYC?

[pipeman]

Just saw that Sunrise are doing a bit on this story this morning for anyone who's awake...

[euph0rix]

All I heard was propaganda about Nimbin being a sad town full of violent heroin addicts, heroin addicts with young girlfriends (is this a problem?) and that Nimbin has medievil diseases. All I saw was a great looking town full of happy hippies and plenty of tourists. Sounds like Bush has his boot up Mr Howards arse again.

[pipeman]

and they obviously have never been to Nimbin recently. They said the bus tours were full of old people who come to see the freaks, when in reality its mostly backpackers looking to score a smoke. giving the public an ignorant opinion as usual....

 

I also liked the way they showed a pic of a skinny guy with dreads while talking about "skinny junkies". was it a cheap ploy to associate stoners with junkies or do these braindead sacks of shit really think a steak, beer and pot belly are the signatures of a healthy lifestyle?

Edited July 9, 2007 by pipeman

[RobbieGanjaSeed]

About 15 years ago the tour bus was filled with little old folks, bcause I recall reading their letters to the editor in the local rags. They'd pay teir money to go see a scene they would otherwise be unaware existed, and then write of their horror and disgust in public letters. Weird. If the bus is filled with scorers now at least the bus can be seen as a service .

 

YA right about attacking a bloke for being skinny. Another day and they show close ups of people's bellies and thghs, and rant about overweight Australia. There's no consistency.

 

I'd really like to see the statistics on violence among the town residents, because although as I aid I haven't had squat to do with the area for some years, I'd be suprised to find it's turned violent as such. It'd just be such a turn around from what I recall.

 

rob

[Gibs]

I'm road tripping to NSW from brissie in a few weeks, thinking about stopping by at Nimbin. How tourist-friendly is it these days? Do people take the main st cameras seriously?

[babybear]

great u can walkinto the hemp bar an just buy it i think well if u not a cop , i was there the other week , was nice an chilling , about 200 oz , there is another shop that sells it to just walk in an ask cant think of name but its accors the road from hemp bar an they sell hippy shit an pipies an clothes bags insence gee tins an lots of things , cute shop too make sure u find it

 

Just dont go leavein bags down any where keep ya stuff in pockets cause even thou about 50% are nice good luvin hippies there is a fair amount of bad ass ppl to , all tryin to makin a living thou , DONT buy off st's

[bufo marinus]

Bloody hard to change anything when we are gagged and have to sit and listen to David Kosh dribble from the mouth regularly.

This one sided argument has always been a problem, I guess it's why we congregate here on the web.

 

We do need to start emailing the media with another point of view. Otherwise we'll moan about this forever.

I paid for an email address from Oz Stoners, it wouldn't bother me to add a few links and email the media as required using the email addy

[Bubble Bags Australia]

I have a very unique perspective on all this as I have lived in Canada, USA and Australia.

 

In Vancouver, Canada (where i am from), cannabis is still illegal, but after about 10 years of work by the British Columbia Marijuana Party and working with the police, not against them, and working to educate the police that it is more worth their time, money and man power to bust the real criminals like thieves, rapists, murders and so on, rather than busting pot heads, the police finally listened, they didn't give in, they were educated and they listened and understood. So they now turn a blind eye and there are cannabis cafes, vaporizer bars, you can smoke up while walking down the street, smoke a bong in the park, go to the beach and openly smoke joints, etc... the police still don't like to see open selling, but it does happen and people are not hassled. Its works out wonderfully well, there simply is no more problem.

 

Sure it would be great if cannabis actually were legal in Vancouver, but this is still a damn great situation. There is no reason it can't happen here, even if it happens only in Nimbin and the rest of Oz stays the same, just as in Vancouver, the lax laws only exist in Vancouver, if you go outside of Vancouver, you still get the same harsh police attitude.

 

I don't know much about the cannabis activism here in Australia or Nimbin, but from my understanding and having gone to Mardigrass for 3 years now, I don't really think there is much of one beyond some small hippie, grass roots type stuff going on in Nimbin, I could be wrong though. Definetly the publication of Stickypoint magazine here is a big one and something that needs to continue and be supported, just as Vancouver and The British Columbia Marijuana Party (BCMP) produce Cannabis Culture magazine which is a big help in creating a community and getting information and news out there.

 

I can tell you what I think is really needed here, if you want to see the same thing in Nimbin that is in Vancouver is a group needs to be created (like the BCMP), that plays the game on the professional level that the police and politicians want to see. As much as you might not like this, this is how and why it worked in Vancouver. What this means is that while hippie activism is very important and having rallies and things like Mardigrass is very important, there needs to be a business side, people who look professional, who dress well, have nice professional haircuts and are groomed *all the time* !!!! The BCMP has Marc Emery and Michelle Rainey who among other things are the faces of the BCMP, there are lot of other people that are imporant to it such as Chris Benette and Greg Williams, who dress more natural or hippie, but Marc and Michelle always look good and professional and are always ready for a photo opp or to go to a meeting with the city council or to court and so on.

 

Again even if you don't like playing this game, it is what needs to be done, the non pot smoking public, the press, the politicans, the judges, etc.... need to see something besides a bunch of hippies dancing around with signs and banners and wild costumes, but that is *all* they are seeing right now, because here in Oz the only press that cannabis is getting is Mardigrass and Nimbin, which is basically 100% freaks and hippies. Which I am all for, I'm not a hippie, but I am a freak, but thats not going to change your guys situation.

 

You need a group that not only has a good looking professional face but is also professional. I used to work at the BCMP and it is highly organized, there is a whole team of people running an actual office, making press kits, answering phones, sending out faxes, keeping the financial books organized (very important), working on legal cases, contacting the right people, setting up press events and so on.... Its *exactly* like what is needed to run any professional political party or campaign. Walk into the offices for most any political party and look at what is going on, and look at the more professional parties such as labor and liberal, they are not being run by disorganized, poorly dressed people in a hole in the wall office, even your "hippie" party The Greens are run very professionally and look good.

 

Also keep your office clean, keep it dusted, wipe down surfaces, don't have dirty ashtrays everywhere, sweep on a regular basis, and have a professional looking front to your campaign headquarters and offices. Its not like someone has to be hired to do this, just don't be slobs and every one work togeather, empty that tray of roaches, if you see a mess on the floor sweep it up, at the BCMP there was not one person in charge of cleaning, it was just done, although it usually fell upon a couple people that did it themselves.

 

And this also does not mean those working and running the party have to give up Cannabis. Everyone at the BCMP was always smoking cannabis and it was important that they were as it showed the public they could be high and still be professional and run a campaign and that not all stoners were lazy and forgetful and unmotivated. Marc and Michelle (the two professional looking faces and heads of the BCMP were always puffing and they did really good and important jobs). Chris Bennett ran an entire internet television station everday while stoned and so on.... so you don't have to change your lifestyle, just be more organized and professional acting and looking, simple as that.

 

And I am sure many people will say that to do things like that takes money, yes it does, but not as much as you might think. I do not know much about the finances area of running a political campaign, but I do know a lot about the finances of running a company and they are very similar. But with a political campaign you can get donations and contributions and you can probably get all kinds of special tax deductions and other than your core staff such as a secratary , PR and the heads of the campaign, you can have an all volunteer staff. If people truely beleive and are passionate about the cause and want to see change and reform they will want to volunteer, and if your party is succesfull as it gains support, it gains more donations and you can afford to pay staff and buy more expensive and professional PR like photos and flyers and banners and office equipment and stuff like that. Your headquarters could start out in the back of a headshop (one that is clean and looks good), the BCMP was in the basment underneath their store front which sold glass pipes, cannabis related clothing and paraphenalia like grinders and stuff like that, which made money for the party and they just recently opened up a vapor lounge which they charge a $5 admission too, people bring thier own weed, but can sit around in a private area and use the vaporizers and hang with friends and meet others, its very popular. There are many ways to generate money, far too many to go into now.

 

If I lived in Nimbin, I would totally volunteer to use my knowledge and help run whatever is needed, and maybe I am totally talking about something that already exists here and there already is a professional group with professional looking people running a marijuana legalization political party here in Australia or Nimbin and if so thats great, I just have not heard much about them and my only experience has been with what I have seen at Nimbin. And no offense to what is being done there, at least you guys are trying, its better than nothing and I have full support and respect for you and I am not dissing you by calling you hippies or saying its disorganized, I am simply telling you what i have seen and know first hand about what has been done and what works in this exact situation, and am simply offering my advice.

 

Btw, excuse all the typos, I typed this really fast.

 

Meerkat

Edited July 10, 2007 by Meerkat

[Bubble Bags Australia]

Btw, if you are at all interested in learning more about what is going on in Vancouver and with the BCMP, go to www.pot-tv.net which is the internet TV station created by the BCMP and has been around for a long time and is very succesfull and an amazing achievment

 

It is all done out of one room (and a small closet sized studio), with cobbled togeather PC computers (I helped build and rebuild some of them), there is some equipment that was bought like a video camera and a video switching board, but they were both on the cheap end (at least when I was there, they may have upgraded), but basically it was just some really low end PC equipment, old CRT monitors, lots of cabling (gawd do I remember the cabling mess) and a router and such to do the networking. Very low tech and cheap compared to say the professional 100,000 or multi million dollar studios done to do most of the internet TV stations you see now days.

 

I am not saying any of this to diss it or be negative, as I just said its an amazing achievement, but its an achievement because of the the people running it, their passion to the movement, their dedication and their ability to learn how to use all the equipment. Chris Benett who pretty much runs the whole show and does it all, is a hippie who didn't know much about computers, but he learned and learned to do video and audio editing and is am amazing guy and the same thing can be done here.

 

But anyway, check it out if your not already familiar with it, lots of greeat shows on there and you can really see the professionalism that goes into the BCMP.

 

Lets make this happen here, I will help however I can, but unfortunately this type of stuff needs to mostly be done by local people who can be physically present. And you need a focus and I think a good thing to focus on is Nimbin, thus this should be done in Nimbin, unless there is another part of Oz that is more of a cannabis capital and has more resources (as I do know that with Nimbin being such a small town, that means that resources are going to be scarce and so is a source of volunteers and such.