Post by Modesto Anarcho on Feb 26, 2008 19:22:53 GMT -5
On Friday, August 3rd, Edmund “Eddie” Flores, 35, entered a Winco supermarket in Modesto. He grabbed hair gel, deodorant and other bathroom products and left the store without paying for them, (according to local police and store security). On the way to his car with the appropriated goods, he was stopped by employees and security. A struggle ensued and suddenly Flores was on the ground. The employees got him up and took him upstairs to be processed. When upstairs in the office, the store manager noticed that Flores needed medical care and called an ambulance. For a day Flores lingered on life support, with news of his health making front page headlines. Then, with only a tiny mention in the police blotter, Eddie passed away on August 4th. Soon after his death, people began to ask if Winco security hurt Eddie so bad that he died. But of course, Winco hasn’t been talking about what happened that day and their unwillingness to discuss the situation certainly seems to confirm they contributed to his death.
A week after his death, family and friends of Eddie were on the streets in front of Winco, protesting his death and looking for answers. Regardless of if Eddie died because of an attack by Winco employees - this class based society is ultimately to blame. We are forced into selling our time and energy for wages and if we do not we faced with starvation and homelessness. We then must use our wages to buy back the products which ourselves and other workers have created: thus becoming exploited twice. Corporations like Winco don’t care at all about people like Eddie, the consumers who buy it’s products, the workers who make and harvest the food it sells, or the workers which keep the huge corporation afloat day in and day out. All they care about it making money. Eddie rejected this, when he decided to take something back, to shoplift, to liberate goods for himself, to refuse to play the game of being a good little worker and consumer. We have been forced into a system which has destroyed our lives, polluted our planet, policed us to death, and forced us into this rat race. And Winco is a part of this global system. When something like what happened to Eddie goes down, we need to respond with action.
Showing solidarity with the protests of Eddie’s friends and family is one way and continuing to put pressure on Winco for answers is another, (if they tell actually the truth is another question). With Winco stores dotted across our landscape like a million other corporate monsters, our possibilities for action and expressions of solidarity are limitless. Let Winco and ourselves never forget Eddie. Let’s make the rich remember his name, because when they kill a shoplifter, they kill a part of all of us. Those in power want us to be the slaves on their plantations - let’s show them that we’d rather see it burn.
Produced by Modesto Anarcho Crew, www.geocities.com/anarcho209, anarcho209@yahoo.com, www.myspace.com/modanarcho
Flyer here at: www.infoshop.org/inews/article.p ... die-flores
A week after his death, family and friends of Eddie were on the streets in front of Winco, protesting his death and looking for answers. Regardless of if Eddie died because of an attack by Winco employees - this class based society is ultimately to blame. We are forced into selling our time and energy for wages and if we do not we faced with starvation and homelessness. We then must use our wages to buy back the products which ourselves and other workers have created: thus becoming exploited twice. Corporations like Winco don’t care at all about people like Eddie, the consumers who buy it’s products, the workers who make and harvest the food it sells, or the workers which keep the huge corporation afloat day in and day out. All they care about it making money. Eddie rejected this, when he decided to take something back, to shoplift, to liberate goods for himself, to refuse to play the game of being a good little worker and consumer. We have been forced into a system which has destroyed our lives, polluted our planet, policed us to death, and forced us into this rat race. And Winco is a part of this global system. When something like what happened to Eddie goes down, we need to respond with action.
Showing solidarity with the protests of Eddie’s friends and family is one way and continuing to put pressure on Winco for answers is another, (if they tell actually the truth is another question). With Winco stores dotted across our landscape like a million other corporate monsters, our possibilities for action and expressions of solidarity are limitless. Let Winco and ourselves never forget Eddie. Let’s make the rich remember his name, because when they kill a shoplifter, they kill a part of all of us. Those in power want us to be the slaves on their plantations - let’s show them that we’d rather see it burn.
Produced by Modesto Anarcho Crew, www.geocities.com/anarcho209, anarcho209@yahoo.com, www.myspace.com/modanarcho
Flyer here at: www.infoshop.org/inews/article.p ... die-flores
