Public Comment

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt a proclamation that August 13, 2015 is Berkeley Barb Celebration Day in in order to celebrate the revolutionary publication that represented the City’s diverse and progressive community

BACKGROUND

The Berkeley Barb was an exceptional publication at the forefront of progressive politics and culture. It served as an underground voice for the people, and fostered support for a diverse panoply of issues, including the anti-war movement, struggles against racial oppression, sexual freedom, the women's rights movement, gay rights, the farmworkers' struggle, the psychedelic arts and drug culture, and environmental activism, to name a few. 

The writers and artists that contributed to the Barb were prominent figures in the counterculture movement, and drew from the contentious politics of the day to create art and literature that questioned the status quo and challenged the notion of what was “politically correct.” This resulted in a publication that was a bastion of independent thought and an influence for countless subsequent publications. 

Recognizing the impact and legacy of this pioneering publication by designating August 13, 2015 as Berkeley Barb Celebration Day would allow the City to pay tribute to an important part of its cultural history. The City of Berkeley is known worldwide as a haven for free thought and countercultural ideas, and as something that encapsulates this rich character, the Barb deserves to be celebrated. 

The Resolution: 

Berkeley Barb Day in Berkeley  

WHEREAS, the first issue of the Berkeley Barb was published by Max Scherr on August 13, 1965; and 

WHEREAS, the Berkeley Barb was one of the first three tabloid weeklies that gave birth to the Underground Press; and
WHEREAS, as Morris Dickstein observed in his 1977 book, Gates of Eden: "The history of the sixties was written as much in the Berkeley Barb as in the New York Times"; and 

WHEREAS, The Berkeley Barb became one of the five founding member of the Underground Press Syndicate (later known as the Alternative Press Syndicate), a national community of countercultural newspapers and magazines dedicated to free expression and social change; and 

WHEREAS, the Berkeley Barb, in the course of 15 memorable years, documented—and advanced—social and political change with reporting that ranged from coverage of anti-war protests, police violence, and the rise of the Black Panther Party to sexual freedom, the women's rights movement, gay rights, the farmworkers' struggle, the psychedelic arts and drug culture, and environmental activism; and 

WHEREAS, the Berkeley Barb's writers, photographers and graphic artists—including staff and uncounted volunteers—celebrated and amplified the cultural revolutions of the day with first-hand accounts of the Summer of Love, the battle for People's Park, Be-ins, sit-ins, and historic concerts—from Altamont to the Fillmore Auditorium; and 

WHEREAS, the Berkeley Barb introduced a revolutionary sex-and-drugs advice column by Eugene "Dr. Hip" Schoenfeld and promoted a new generation of comic strip artists including Joel Beck, R. Crumb, Bill Griffith, Trina Robbins, Spain Rodgriquez, Gilbert Shelton, and Art Spiegelman; and 

WHEREAS, in 1979, the Berkeley Barb formally abandoned the profitable but controversial practice of publishing sexually focused advertising and began offering the paper for free (a radical move that soon spread to other alternative publishers in the Bay Area and beyond) *; and 

WHEREAS, the Berkeley Barb, having reached a peak sales of 93,000 copies in 1969 with a readership that spanned the world and became the last survivor of the Underground Press, ceasing publication on July 1, 1980; now 

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that I, the City of Berkeley, in honor of the pioneering accomplishments of the Berkeley Barb, do hereby invite all Berkeleyans to join with us in celebrating this occasion by speaking out and acting up creatively and freely, and I do hereby proclaim August 13, 2015 as: 

August 13, 2015 as Berkeley Barb Day in Berkeley 

Councilmember Laurie Capitelli 

Councilmember Susan Wengraf 

Councilmember Max Anderson 

Councilmember Linda Maio 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington 

Councilmember Jesse Arreguin 

Councilmember Darryl Moore 

Councilmember Lori Droste 

* Note: Councilmember Capitelli requested that the following, somewhat redundant, sentence be added to the resolution: 

"Whereas the Berkeley Barb experienced controversy about ads for sex, pornography and sex escort ads and eventually removed them from its pages,"