Posted on 09/09/2009 8:54:25 PM PDT by SmithL
BERKELEY — Six months after Tristan Anderson, a former UC Berkeley tree sitter and Bay Area activist, nearly died after being struck in the head with a tear-gas canister fired by Israeli troops, friends are holding a benefit Sunday to raise money for his recovery costs.
Anderson, 38, remains at a rehabilitation hospital near Tel Aviv and continues to have setbacks and infections after skull surgery last month, supporters said.
The operation came after doctors learned Anderson was suffering from post-traumatic hydrocephalus, a blockage of the ventricles — open spaces in the brain — that causes poor circulation of cerebral spinal fluid in the head, supporters said.
"His girlfriend, Gabrielle Silverman, and his parents are hopeful and giving Tristan as much encouragement and support as they can, even though by all appearances he is struggling to get better," said friend Karen Pickett. "There has been progress, but there have been times when they have lost ground because there have been setbacks."
Anderson, a freelance photojournalist, sustained life-threatening injuries March 13 as he was taking photographs after a regular Friday demonstration over Israel's West Bank separation barrier, Pickett said. He was struck in the right temple with a tear-gas canister fired by Israeli troops, according to peace activists with the International Solidarity Movement.
His skull was fractured, and some of the bone fragments entered his brain, friends said. He sustained a large hole in his forehead where he was struck by the canister, and he was blinded in his right eye, friends said.
The benefit is at 8 p.m. Sunday at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave., in Berkeley. There will be music from Rebecca Riots, a female folk trio; the Funky Nixons; American Indian singer and songwriter Phoenix; spoken word, an art auction and an update on Anderson.
The doors open at 7:30 p.m., and organizers are asking for a donation of $5 to $20 to cover Anderson's recuperation costs. The event is sponsored by Friends of Tristan and Palestine and the International Solidarity Movement. For details, call 510-548-3113 or visit justicefortristan.org.
"We are trying to raise as much money as we can in support of his recovery costs," Pickett said. "But it's also a time to raise support and let people know what is going on with Tristan, and to make the point that things are still serious and he needs continuing support."
On the day Anderson, of Oakland, was injured, there were several hundred protesters in the West Bank town of Naalin, where Palestinians and international backers frequently had gathered to demonstrate against the barrier. Israel says the barrier is necessary to keep Palestinian attackers from infiltrating into Israel, but many Palestinians view it as a thinly veiled land grab because it juts into the West Bank at multiple points.
Before going to the Middle East, he was involved in the tree-sit at UC Berkeley to protest the building of a sports training center. That protest lasted 21 months, but Anderson, who was known as "Cricket" during the sit, did not sit in a tree the entire time.
It is not known how long he was in the trees, but he came down from his perch on June 19, 2008, and was given a stay-away order, police said.
He was found near the tree-sit the following day, arrested and sent to trial, where he was found not guilty. The tree-sit ended last September, when the university razed the trees.
(Photo courtesy Active Stills/International Solidarity Movement)
Israel isn’t America, dude. You get hurt there.
Looks like he needs a shower...
where were the bulldozers?
Darwin award
One of my greatest fears is dying after being hit on the noggin with a tear gas canister. What a lousy and embarrassing way to go out.
Those vicious Israelis! You know that Hamas is really the good guys because they never use evil cruel weapons like tear gas.
ok the sarcasm light is now back off.
While I am sorry that the young man was seriously injured, I’m also praying that this ‘hit’ might have realigned his brain.
And he’s receiving humane advanced Israeli healthcare for his problems. Yet he was there protesting Israeli actions. Why the heck didn’t his family demand that he be moved to a hospital in the Gaza Strip? Why are they accepting evil Israeli hospitalization, if they hate Israel so much????????
And is there any reason he sits in trees and goes overseas to protest? Doesn’t he have to work for a living? Is he independently wealthy? If so, why the heck is a fundraiser needed?
Put me down for 0 cents.
“Doesn’t he have to work for a living?”
If this is the guy who got his head cleaved by a tear gas round in Gaza, he works for an International A.N.S.W.E.R. affiliate group in San Fransisco, the SAME group that paid Rachel Cory (She of the flattening)
1000% guilty.
Of everything.
Ever.
I guess activism has a price after all, huh?
The nagain, activism doesn’t teach you to duck.
Then again, why worry about it? Just give him a copy of “Your Life, Your Choices.”
If it’s good eough for our Veterans, it should be good enough for an activist.
Are they sure he wouldn’t be better off “just taking the pain pill?”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/19/EDUU16HBT3.DTL
West Bank versus the Special City
San Francisco Chronicle (CA) - Thursday, March 19, 2009
Author: Debra J. Saunders
When Tristan Anderson , now 38, was living illegally in the trees at UC Berkeley to protest the administration’s ultimately successful bid to cut down the trees to build a sports training center, life was good. For 21 months, Berkeley’s tree sitters happily fouled their nests with little interference from the authorities. Their biggest fear was falling.
When Berkeley finally erected barbed-wire fences and began to shine spotlights on the canopy campers, the tree huggers complained that UC had turned their grove into “Guantanamo.” UC retaliated by giving the tree sitters energy bars.
In June 2008, Anderson , who went by the name “Cricket,” was arrested, charged with trespassing and violating a court order - and still he was able to chat happily with reporters.
Segue to the West Bank last week. Anderson had joined pro-Palestinian protesters in the village of Naalin, where he was seriously wounded when an Israeli-fired tear-gas canister hit him on the head.
(snip)
Is it just me or does he have a sort of scruffy, Middle Eastern Mr. Bean thing going?
OK, Found my file on this clown, Tristan Anderson..
He attended, but did not graduate from, the University of Integrated Science inCalifornia:
“A degree granting University where graduates have the opportunity to become strong leaders in areas such as human transformation, vegan and live food nutrition, organ-specific health challenges, pain/stress management, world peace, Essene studies, Tantra and human sexuality, integrated wellness and transformational science.
Students are encouraged to integrate and manifest their divinity in all areas of their lives. Our approach honors all religious beliefs, practices, cultures and nations.”
He was in Palestine with ANSWER’s “International Solidarity Movement”, another of their Soros-funded organs.
He’s a Profesional, Mommy-financed protestor.
Was this picture taken before or after being hit in the head?
The malfunctioning brain seems to be a pre-existing medical condition.
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