Solidarity Sunday – Wear Black Fight Back
Posted 12 years ago on Jan. 28, 2012, 9:27 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Occupy demonstrators in Oakland shield themselves from an exploding teargas grenade.
Yesterday, Occupy Oakland moved to convert a vacant building into a community center to provide education, medical, and housing services for the 99%. Police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, beanbag rounds and mass arrests. The state has compounded its policy of callous indifference with a ruthless display of violent repression. The Occupy movement will respond, as we have always reponded: with an overwhelming show of collective resistance. Today, we take to the streets. Across the country, we will demonstrate our resolve to overcome repression and continue to build a better world grounded in love and solidarity for one another. All eyes on all Occupies.
SOLIDARITY SUNDAY starts at 7 p.m. EST, Sunday, January 29. Check your local Occupation for convergence points.
Be there.
NEW YORK
Washington Square Park 7PM
BOSTON
Copley Square 7PM
PHILADELPHIA
Love Park 7PM
WASHINGTON D.C.
McPherson Square 7PM
CHICAGO
HQ – Jackson & LaSalle 7PM
LOS ANGELES
Macarthur Park 5PM PST
DALLAS, TX
JFK Memorial 6PM CT
PORTLAND, OR
Justice Center 4PM PST
TAMPA
Voice of Freedom Park 7PM
INDIANAPOLIS
Superbowl Village 6PM
Organizing initiatives are underway in
HOUSTON
PITTSBURGH
NEW HAVEN, CT
ALBANY, NY
BUFFALO, NY
BALTIMORE, MD
AMARILLO, TX
If your city would like to organize & join in this call to action, email directaction@nycga.net
If you have a brave heart that yearns for true resolution after seeing the militarism, repression, oppression and injustice in recent hours, days, weeks and months, then read this entire post and challenge your assumptions. We can win this if we follow the incredibly powerful PLAYBOOK that was left to us.
Look: We have to get real and face facts. The powers that be can shut down this movement pretty easily and quickly if we get violent. They know what to do with violence they, themselves, have a thorough PLAYBOOK for that and will always win.. However, they don't know what to do with active non-violent resistance. We have the PLAYBOOK to engage in non-violent direct action but they don't have an effective PLAYBOOK to counter that active resistance. Non-violent direct action is the stuff that successful revolutions are made of. Read books by the world renowned Gene Sharp. Dictators around the world have despised him because his tactics directly threatened their leadership and had the power to take them down nonviolently. Here's the deal: In the U.S. especially, the powers that be just look terrible no matter how they react to active nonviolent resistance -- whether they drag a young middle America looking protester off after zip tying them or they stand by helplessly as the entrance to Congress or Goldman Sachs is blocked by protestors effectively shutting down the buildings. They're damned if they do and damned if they don't.. We must reread and remember the history of Gandhi and King to remind ourselves just how powerful nonviolence is. It is not just that it helps you win. Additionally, in taking a truly nonviolent approach, there is a beautiful side benefit. True nonviolence, as Martin Luther King, Jr. put it, requires that one love their oppressor so much that they want to help set them right.
There is a move in the martial art Aikido that goes like this: An aggressor or attacker comes at you. Instead of resisting, you take a slight step to the left and move WITH the momentum of the attacker. With a bit of non-lethal leverage in the right spot at the right time, you then help the attacker to the ground where they'll be safer. The entire maneuver is done in the spirit of helping the other person who is out of control. This maneuver is somewhat akin to what nonviolent direct action can do in turning the tables while keeping a mindset of love.
Nonviolence is about creating tension. Martin Luther King, Jr. (who clearly borrowed from Gandhi's play book) put it like this in his "Letter from the Birmingham Jail". As you read this, think about King sitting in a jail cell in a jean jacket, an occupier from back in the day, an occupier for the same cause of justice that is being pursued today::
"Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks to so dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood."
"The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation."
Here's the entire "Letter from the Birmingham Jail": http://abacus.bates.edu/admin/offices/dos/mlk/letter.html . It's a treasure and is as timely as ever.
I've been saying this for years but its a hard concept for most people to grasp
I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks of police with dogs and fire hosing people, when "letters from Birmingham" is cited. The recent State of the Union did not mention any support being provided to local police by the Federal Government, but it's not hard to see that they are geared up. MLK and Ghandi believed themselves to be on the right track, but their oppressors? History does repeat they say. When OWS is mentioned what images will be associated with it?
When OWS is mentioned what images will be associated with it? Lethal projectiles,pepper spray,tear gas, Stun guns, cops with horses riding into people and UC Berkley Cops swinging batons and hitting unarmed people. People of all ages and thousands of people shutting down the Port of Oakland. Thousands of people in NYC park. We are the 99 % we are too big too fail. We will increase we will not stop we will not forget we are coming.
This is a great post, therising. You couldn't make more sense.
I agree whole Heartedly. Violent protest is a losing proposition. It alienates people who might otherwise take the time to listen to you, then find that they agree with you.
To act in violence should be only when someone is trying to take your life or trying to take someone Else's Life or trying to do serious physical harm under the same circumstances, and then only to defend as long as defense is needed,
It is alright and natural to feel anger and outrage. It is not OK to let it rule you.
Use your anger and outrage to motivate positive action, positive action is peaceful as well as powerful. Let the other guy flail in anger, then it is they that throws away support, it is then they who throw away just cause and righteous intent.
I have two questions:
go to occupyoakland's website, they have a long and excllent statement on the building and their actions. read it here: http://occupyoakland.org/2011/11/neighborhood-reclamation-proposal-occupy-the-oakland-municipal-auditorium/
I think there is a better way to get this done. Start a fund to re-open the building and go through the proper channels. Just marching in "taking it over" is looking for a fight.
If you do it right you can raise the money to operate the building properly and comply with OSHA regulations and insurance requirements. If OWS takes over the building and someone gets hurt OWS would be responsible and would have to foot the bill for any lawsuits due to improper building conditions or safety practices. I am pretty sure there is not enough dollars in the general fund to cover that.
Occupy definitely need to think things through in more depth. Many of their actions seem like they were planned by a bunch of teenagers in a treehouse.
Some of the kids in the tree house are looking for confrontation so they can appear to be the oppressed.
The problem is some in the group are doing this:
http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2012-01/67711222.jpg
So logic is - this space was closed for bad reasons - therefore we have the right to seize it?
What gives you that right?
Perhaps a better question: Should we respect the institutions who allowed the systemic rape of the American people? If nothing else, does our government not have an obligation, a duty to protect the most vulnerable in our society from the most powerful?
How did this particular institution "rape the American people" exactly?
I have gone over this time and again with other posters and do not wish to do so again. I suggest that you watch the movies Inside Job and The Warning. Along with a plethora of other information availabe out there. You will learn about derivatives, CDO's, and CDS's. You will then see our our elected officials helped set up an unrealistic system where the big banks had all the upside potential and we had all the downside. The consequences: Human misery throughout the world.
I have seen both movies and actually know what the financial instruments you are talking about are (its derivatives by the way).
In fact - I even get information from sources that aren't narrated by Matt Damon!
I was asking about the particular institutions involved in the Oakland protests last night (the convention center, city hall, etc) and why they should be compared to a forced sexual assault by you.
And since you are an expert, because you watched two movies, do you want to get rid of both instruments or regulate them differently? If so how why and how?
First I am well aware of how to spell derivatives and have corrected it for you. When you don't have much just ground to stand on, I understand you have to grasp on to whatever you can. My knowledge of the 2008 melt-down goes far beyond two movies. I remember reading about what lead up to the rape of the American people early in 2009, and couldn't understand why more people weren't angry. OWS was no surprise to me. The only surprise was that it took so long. I am not a financial expert so I do not have all the solutions, but bringing back the Glass-Steagall Act and regulating derivatives would be a good start as I am sure you know being the financial expert that you think you are. Did Matt Damon write Inside Job, and did he do all the research? Is that what you are think?? Doesn't rape also mean plunder and rob, didn't you know that? Those are such mild words for what the corrupt financial/political institutions did to the American people. 'Rape' is much more appropiate considering all the human misery that they have caused so many people. Please check my spelling.
Rape does not also mean plunder and rob - it means rape.
My claim is that if you knew what they actually did you could describe it without a bad analogy.
Bad anaology.........perhaps....rape does mean plunder or rob....not defending anyone....just understand people's anger. Thanks for toning this down. I respect that.
Thanks - I respect your reply and greater point.
Rape is a poor choice of words.
But let's talk real here, the average US citizen bought 4 houses during the boom with nothing down, ... cuz all believed in their dumb fucking little hearts that housing ONLY goes up, if they had bothered to study the great depression they would know that housing can go down -90% and stay there for decades.
Nobody was raped, it was a party post RON-RAYGUN US prez 1980's to 2005 25 years of unlimited debt and the US public ate it up and partied like hell, and now they got the fucking BILL and whine like the little bitches they are,
Matt DAMON what a fucking pussy, what an example of the a bitch to convince everybody that they got fucked, all the while it was THEY that were fucking themselves.
I wish I could capsulize everything as neatly as you do, and then believe this to be the ultimate in truth. It would be so much easier than having to think.
America sucks dick cuz of its people. Your 99%,
Nobody protested until DEBT bubble imploded, now all play the blame-game,
Many us predicted this shit, but then it was predicted in the 1970's.
We all come from different angles, some see their poverty as being fixed by an OWS 're-distribution', others see that finally the average USA parasite gets off his ass and takes some responsibility for the USA fucking the world.
Sadly, the vast majority, the 99% would just as soon to go back to watching TV, if they weren't flat ass broke and had a dismal future.
America is fucked cuz you all let it run on auto-pilot by assholes for 50 years.
Nobody can fix the USA its terminally fucked.
My..my... how angry we are. You have a crude way of expressing yourself, but you are right on two things, 'a democracy is only as good as its citizens are involved,' and we have to detangle ourselves from the affairs of others.
Thanks, I'm not really angry, but my writing style may come off that way, its partly to be humorous, but also to be dead honest and not beat around the bush. The US citizen is NOT unlike the Nazi post WWII in denial that their town had incinerators for killing Jews... The majority of US citizens care fucking shit about what their government does to the world to provide cheap fuel for the car.
Well chickens are coming home to roost, the USA is more Bankrupt than Greece, and the civil-war is inevitable, cuz you got 56% of the USA public living as parasites on government checks ( anybody that gets a check from the government is a parasite in my book )
150,000 lives??
In Iraq from the first BUSH war to the current OBAMA war its been MILLIONS,
Millions died just from the simple fact that we destroyed the sewage treatment facility's in the first Bush war, dysentery killed 1/2 million children over a decade ago,...
The USA has killed more in recent years than Stalin or Hitler ever killed.
Unless it is an American life, it does not count in many of our fellow citizens eyes. They then have the gall to go to church every Sunday and pray for a better world. Does anyone really think that we went to Iraq to bring democracy there, at a cost of 150,000 lost live at least?
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This is a good question because if somone gets hurt, the owner is liable just as when someone gets hurt in your home.
Not if they proactively create a waiver of liability, removing such from the owner.
The owner isn't liable if you break into their building and then get hurt.
You would be surprised. If someone climbs a fence into your backyard and drowns in your pool you can be held liable.
In any case the owner must notify the police as soon as they know somone is tresspassing.
You are confusing the concept of attractive nuisance to breaking and entering. That's why pools are supposed to fenced and locked. However, if a person climbs a fence to swim in my pool I wouldn't be held liable. If I never fenced my pool and left it open to anyone who walked by my yard, I could be held liable if a person jumped in and drowned.
OWS breaking into an abandoned building to live in it and someone gets hurt in the process, OWS is responsible not the building owner.
You would be surprised how much a lawsuit can cost even if you win.
Lawsuits like the ones you and I have talked about would be covered under homeowners insurance. The carrier would defend you and pay for your attorney. If the case goes to trial, the carrier would pay the judgment.
Which has been increacing the cost of insurance for everyone for years.
That was not reallly my original point however. People wonder why the police were called in. It is one thing when it is breaking and entering and another when you allow folks to stay there. When you allow them to stay everything changes.
agree
I assume this site will not be showing protestors hurling numerous objects at police in their "peaceful" occupation
that was only a few people, and they have every right to defend themselves after they were shot at with concussion grenades, tear gas, and other VIOLENT weapons. did you say the same about those throwing rocks and molotovs in egypt when they were attacked??? no, they were called "non-violent" in the US media every day, but when it happens here it is "violence" because the media protects the 1% here.
It looks to me like this news article is inciting violence. The headline reads - "Wear Black Fight Back" and the image features an explosion beside the word "cops". This is strange marketing tactics for a non-violent protest. It's not very Gandhi like.
It was only one cop who shot a canister at an occupy protester in Oakland a few months ago. Occupy used that single event to market the idea that all cops are evil doers. It shouldn't surprise you if the news outlets call Occupy protests violent because of a few people. Propaganda works on both sides of the fence.
Occupy claims the black bloc is the problem. I can see that. If so, don't ask all the protesters to dress in Black. This makes it harder to distinguish good protesters from the black bloc. Not good.
Why doesn't Occupy make a call to all protesters to identify the black bloc and to report them to the police using their cell phones. Create a press release about this. Make it clear to everyone that you do not support property destruction of any kind and that all black bloc protesters will be handed to the police.
In a nutshell, don't claim non-violence, be non-violent.
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It didn't look like "only a few people". When a few police use excessive fore do you say "well it was only a few cops, the rest are ok"?
Actions like this turn more people off than any one on the inside seems to realize. You are stuck in a hype bubble.
Wrong, jackass. Once again, we have law enforcers vs. law breakers. Everyone of those freeloading bums in the "occupy" horde were breaking the law, and the cops did what they had to do to try to enforce the law.
resigned to a morality via legal structure
I'm sure the police will catch that violence on their cameras and report it to the public
It belongs to the people. Etched in stone on the front of the HJK reads: "AUDITORIUM OF THE CITY OF OAKLAND DEDICATED BY THE CITIZENS TO THE INTELLECTUAL AND INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS OF THE PEOPLE ANNO DOMINI MCMXIV" It has been vacant for at least 6yrs.here's a link about the ownership. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2011%2F05%2F21%2FBALQ1JJ0A0.DTL
I think there is a better way to get this done. Start a fund to re-open the building and go through the proper channels. Just marching in "taking it over" is looking for a fight and it is not safe. A building vacant for 6 years is certainly in disrepair.
If you do it right you can raise the money to operate the building properly and comply with OSHA regulations and insurance requirements. If OWS takes over the building and someone gets hurt OWS would be responsible and would have to foot the bill for any lawsuits due to improper building conditions or safety practices. I am pretty sure there is not enough dollars in the general fund to cover that.
JTF the answer is: Probably the CORRUPT BANKS, you know the same people who screwed so many others out of their retirement savings, homes, and caused human misery throughout the world.
Conjecture.
To those who think it's wrong to occupy a vacant building, see the post below about Argentina's recovered factories movement. There's something deeply wrong with our system and values when we have cities full of vacant buildings and people with no homes.
I'm in the bay area and I've got a lot of issues with Occupy Oakland, but this kind of action exposes the deep seated dysfunction of our way of doing things that most people don't notice or think about, because they're too busy maintaining a system which doesn't serve them. It's easy to call someone engaging in property destruction a criminal, which they are, but how about someone who buys influence to rig the system in their favor, allowing them to pay substandard wages, etc., making it harder and harder for people who simply want to play by the rules to lead a life of dignity? Issues like this are usually a lot more complex than they seem on the surface.
http://www.primitivetimes.com/2011/still-don’t-get-occupy-wall-street-watch-the-take/
Yeah, but the fundamental problem with the occupy idiots is that, at their core, they are nothing but freeloading bums. Hence, nothing productive will ever come from "occupied sites," except more bumming around and begging for handouts from the productive elements of society (i.e., the so-called 1%).
We did that non violently but they treat it all as violence.
This attack in Oakland is exactly why we need to call out to the millions that have been inspired by Occupy to come out into the streets to stop this suppression. Please, read and circulate "A Call for Mass Action Against the Suppression of the Occupy Movement". See below or go http://www.dontsuppressows.org/
A Call for Mass Action Against the Suppression of the Occupy Movement
These past several months have witnessed something very different in the U.S. People from many different walks of life came together to occupy public space in nearly 1,000 cities in the U.S. They stood up to vicious police violence, they broke through the confines of “protest as usual,” and in the middle of all that, they built community. Even in the face of media attempts to ridicule, distort, and demonize these protests, their basic message began to get through. People throughout the U.S.—and even the world—took notice of and took heart from these brave and creative protesters.
The political terms of discourse began to shift; the iced-over thinking of people in the U.S. began to thaw. Standing up to the unjust brutality and arrests became a badge of honor. People began to listen to and read the stories of some of the victims of this economic crisis, and to share their own. And most of all, as the protests spread to city after city, the fact of people occupying public space forced open debate and raised big questions among millions as to what kind of society this is, and what it should be. Why does such poverty and need exist in the face of a relative handful of people amassing obscene amounts of wealth? Why do the political institutions of society seem only to serve that handful? Why do so many youth feel they face such a bleak future? Why does the insane destruction of the environment continue to accelerate? And what is needed to overcome all this?
Those who actually wield power in this country regarded these protests, and these questions, as dangerous, and reacted accordingly. Time and again those who wield power violated their own laws and ordered police to pepper spray, beat with clubs, and shoot tear gas canisters at the heads of people who were doing nothing more than non-violently expressing their dissent and seeking community. This reached a peak in the recent coordinated and systematic attacks of the past few weeks against all the major occupations. In fact, the mayor of Oakland admitted on BBC to being part of conference calls that coordinated national strategy against the occupiers. On top of all that, and in another blatant show of illegitimate force and power, they attempted to prevent journalists and photographers from covering these acts of repression—unless they were “embedded” with the police.
To put the matter bluntly, but truly: the state planned and unleashed naked and systematic violence and repression against people attempting to exercise rights that are supposed to be legally guaranteed. This response by those who wield power in this society is utterly shameful from a moral standpoint, and thoroughly illegitimate from a legal and political one.
Now this movement faces a true crossroads. Will it be dispersed, driven into the margins, or co-opted? Or will it come back stronger? This question now poses itself, extremely sharply.
One thing is clear already: if this illegitimate wave of repression is allowed to stand... if the powers-that-be succeed in suppressing or marginalizing this new movement... if people are once again “penned in”—both literally and symbolically—things will be much worse. THIS SUPPRESSION MUST BE MASSIVELY OPPOSED, AND DEFEATED.
On the other hand, this too is true: movements grow, and can only grow, by answering repression with even greater and more powerful mobilization.
The need to act is urgent.
As a first step in the necessary response, there must be a massive political mobilization on a day, or days, very soon to say NO! to this attempt to suppress thought and expression with brutality and violence. This mobilization should most of all be in New York, where this movement started... but it should at the same time be powerfully echoed all around the country and yes, around the world. This is a call for massive demonstrations—soon—carried out in public spaces where they can have maximum impact and exposure and where the authorities cannot pen in, suppress, and otherwise attempt to marginalize these demonstrations.
These demonstrations must be large enough to show clearly that people will not tolerate that which is intolerable... that people will not adjust to that which is so manifestly unjust. Such demonstrations, along with the efforts to reach out and build them, can draw many more people from passive sympathy into active support and can awaken and inspire even millions more who have not yet been reached. Such demonstrations can powerfully answer the attempt by “the 1%” to crush and/or derail this broad movement. Thousands and thousands in the streets, acting together, can seize new initiative and change the whole political equation. The urgent questions raised by Occupy—and other urgent questions that have yet to be raised in this movement—can once more reverberate, and more powerfully than before.
The repression of the Occupy movement must not stand. Act.
The initial organizing group is calling on all those inspired by the spirit of the Occupy movement to widely circulate the Call, garnering 100’s of signatures including widely known people, a broad range of organizations including “Occupy” in many cities, as well as prominent voices of conscience next week. If you are in NY, join the organizing committee and come to the next meeting on Thursday, January 26.
Contact: dontsuppressows@yahoo.com
Signers of this Call include: Gbenga Akinnagbe, actor on the HBO series “The Wire” Carole Ashley Fr. Luis Barrios Renate Bridenthal, Professor of History, Brooklyn College, CUNY, retired Elaine Brower, World Can't Wait & Military Families Speak Out Cynthia Carlson, artist Nina Felshin, independent curator Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, NYC Harmony Hammond Barry Holden Camille Hankins, Founder and Director: Win Animal Rights and No Kill New York Ray Hill, producer/host of Ray on the Raydio Internet radio show, Houston, TX Lee Siu Hin, National Coordinator, National Immigrant Solidarity Network Judith Henry Rev. Dr. James Karpen, Church of St Paul and St Andrew, New York City Chuck Kaufman, Executive Director, Alliance for Global Justice Rev. Earl Kooperkamp, St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Harlem Jim Long, artist Waqas Malik, artist Lydia Matthews, Dean of Academic Programs, Associate Dean of Parsons/ Professor Ann Messner, artist Travis Morales Dorinda Moreno, Fuerza Mundial / FM Global / Hitec Aztec, U.S. Liaison Secretariat, International Tribunal of Conscience of Peoples in Movement/TICPM Nick Mottern, ConsumersforPeace.org & kNOwdrones.org National Immigrant Solidarity Network Bradley Olson, Psychologist, Activist Rosemary O'Neill Lindsay O'Neill-Caffrey The Rt. Rev. George E. Packard, Retired Bishop of the Episcopal Church for the Armed Services and Federal Ministries Craig Phipps, Ombudsman, Casa Esperanza Ana Ratner Suzanne Ross, PH.D., Clinical Psychologist David E. Rousline, Ph.D. Berkeley CA Rev. Juan Carlos Ruiz, New Sanctuary Movement Jayce Salloum, artist, Vancouver Irving Sandler Donna Schaper, Senior Minister, Judson Memorial Church Theodora Skipitares, Associate Professor, Pratt Institute Stephen Soldz, Director, Center for Research, Evaluation, and Program Development, Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, Past President, Psychologists for Social Responsibility Bob Stein Rev. Max Surjadinata, Area Coordinator of Friends of Sabeel North America David Swanson, warisacrime.org Matthew Swaye Debra Sweet, Director, World Can't Wait Athena Tacha Dennis Trainor, Jr, Writer, Producer & Host of Acronym TV Marina Urbach, independent curator, other projects, New York Nancy Vining Van Ness, Director, American Creative Dance Jim Vrettos, Adjunct Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice Jen Waller Vince Warren, Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights Dr. Cornel West, Andy Zee, Spokesperson, Revolution Books David Zeiger, Displaced Films *For identification purposes only
I am a supporter of what the occupy movement and very long time Oakland resident. Thank you Occupy! Oakland is where I live - I am in this community for life, and have contributed countless hours to improving it side by side with neighbors. I also contribute generously to fund so many of the well organized progressive causes that are attempting to fix the many, many broken things in our society.
Those of us who are doing what we can - maybe not as much or as fervently as occupiers who assemble and march, but what we can - are actually hindered by the movement when it fails to conduct non-violent protest actions. The police are easy to blame, they will always do the predictable thing when provoked, so it is ultimately up to the protestors to create a strong, coherent action that is non-violent.
I'm not sure why Oakland, a city with so much work to do to even stay afloat, has become the target for this movement's most non-peaceful protests. Our police and local government are notoriously incompetent, so it seems almost exploitative to the community who are just trying to live here peacefully in the first place, to have the movement explode with it's most violent and costly to the local community protests in this venue. Oakland is not a relevant seat of any 1% worth protesting against. This is a community that struggles to fund basic education for it's children. The money we will ultimately spend to clean up after occupy will only be money that we can't spend to fight the very same causes the movement exists to accomplish.
Every day we stare from the Capitol Steps at OccupHarrisburg, buildings that are empty along State Street, while we stand with the homeless in the rain, snow, high winds, cold temperatures. They have been abandoned since we took the steps October 15th. Homeless getting sick, it is a shame on this country. We need to take more buildings, and today we hope to march in solidarity with Oakland in Harrisburg, all welcome.
The world is holding it's breath. Stay strong.
I hope those around the world speak up as you have and encourage Americans to engage in forceful nonviolent direct action. I hope the citizens of the world reminds us how powerful this tactic is, remind us of Gandhi's history with the British, remind us of our own Martin King Jr.... Please help remind us....you can see this from afar so clearly.
Heh. No, it's really not. Sounds inspirational though!
Hi! OccupyAustin's solidarity action is at 8pm at Spiderhouse Cafe, 2908 Fruth, Austin, Texas.
Too funny. Have a few drinks and hang out with some other people that don't shave their legs? Solidarity.
PLEASE READ—ACCOUNT FROM WITNESS.
Anybody who questions OO's tactics based on the "violence"/"non-violence" dichotomy doesn't understand what happened.
Taking actions that elicit police repression are not violent; marching towards an empty building is not violent. Refusing to retreat when you are shot with rocks, poison gas, and bombs, is not violence.
Their tactics are violent, and everybody seems to accept their legitimacy in using them. When a police officer throws a bomb at someone and they respond by throwing back an empty water bottle, who is being violent? Replace the police officer with a fellow civilian and ask the same question.
You should all know that you can't trust the news by now. Still, I'll dispel a couple of their lies. 1) The City Hall break-in was not the reason 400 people were arrested, but vice versa. Only a few dozen were arrested there. The 400 were arrested in front of a YMCA in a kettle. The City Hall break-in was revenge for the kettle by others who came out in support and outrage. 2) Nobody tried to "occupy" the YMCA. Nobody "stormed" it. The police kettled everyone up against it, and employees let people run through the building, showing them exit routes, until police came in and arrested the rest for felony burglary. The others, most of the 400, were pinned into a corner and arrested and most were held for the better part of 48 hours (20 people in each 10x10 "temporary" holding cell with no beds).
WE DID NOT set out on the streets looking for a fight. We set out looking to re-purpose a long-abandoned civic auditorium and put it to use for the people. We took shields because we knew they would try to stop us. They did. We tried to hold our ground because we were right.
I heard someone talking about the state not knowing how to respond to non-violence. That's crap. They know, and they do it all the time. Mostly, they ignore it. Non-violence is attempting to persuade the enemy to be reasonable, but we are not dealing with reasonable people, we are dealing with massive, abstract institutions with no morality, with corporations and police departments and the government. These brainless things have no morality and so cannot be persuaded. They must be dismantled. Whenever a movement gets threatening enough, no matter what tactics it uses, the state responds with violence. If you wish to keep going—to keep walking towards that abandoned building—you have to be prepared to struggle.
Gandhi did not do it alone; Bhagat Singh was a militant communist anti-imperial fighter who built an underground army and was waging attacks on the British (not to mention the British were decimated after the war and couldn't deal with an uprising). MLK was nothing without Malcolm X. And the Dalai Lama's inner peace still hasn't managed to put a dent in the Chinese state even with international solidarity. The Zapatistas have barely accomplished a thing since they declared a cease-fire (though I don't blame them given the state's terrorism).
I watched a union man at an Oakland protest standing in front of a bank window to prevent others from banging on it (nobody was breaking windows yet). He was yelling at them saying that physically fighting would never solve anything. He was wearing a "Solidarity with Tahrir" shirt. We should NOT model ourselves on Egypt, but many idolize them. They were not "non-violent," they did what they could to be effective, and that meant many things, both marching, and hurling rocks at police, both setting up medic tents to treat friends, and firebombing police stations.
If we are to be serious about our movement, we have to accept the consequences of what we want to accomplish. They will oppose us, and we must protect ourselves or we will be crushed. Could the anti-fascist movements of Europe have opposed the Nazis by peaceful demonstration? Were they wrong for barricading off parts of the city and confronting Nazi soldiers who tried to enter? This country is an imperial power and the most violent one the world has ever seen (even if we get off REALLY easy here in its core). We need to start treating it like one. We need to be willing to do what it takes.
Thank you. This is what I've been saying to people for years, and you summed it up in as concise a manner as I'd hope to myself. Honestly, what I'm tired of is the debate in general about violence vs. nonviolence, as if one or the other works all the time every time. The most important civil rights advances in the last 100 years were a result of institutions listening to the nonviolent segments because they feared the violent segment. Without teeth they just ignore it. Of course they know how to handle nonviolence. Yes, they have a sophisticated playbook for just about any and all circumstances. And of course, the moment you become effective you will experience violent suppression whether you're violent or not as we've seen time and time again.
Someone above said think practical, think tactical, be nonviolent. If you take out the last part of that statement it makes much more sense, because if we were to think practically and tactically they'd realize that there's nothing that will rip OWS apart like that debate will. Keeping in mind that violent suppression is an inevitability either way you might as well stop bickering about it and do your thing. Yes, that's right. Don't condone it, don't decry it, don't suggest it, don't discuss it. If you want to know what they might not have a playbook for, I can tell you it's probably that. If you look at the history, it's an almost entirely moot point.
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It appears that the Occupy movement is faced with a challenge:
Either we embrace and stay true to the nonviolent principles we have espoused all along ---- and therefore speak up AGAINST VIOLENCE --- or --- we cede control of the movement to a tiny minoorty who want to naively just tear the whole thing down (not realizing they're playing right into the hands of the powers that be).
Of course, it would come as no surprise to many of us to learn that the 1% and their minions are, at the very least, hoping this tiny minority takes over the movement. Furthermore, it is also quite conceivable, perhaps even likely, that agent provocateurs (police or paid corporate security) are fanning the flames of those inciting or perpetrating violence.
Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke very clearly about the power of nonviolence in his "Letter from the Birmingham Jail" and those who are naively playing into te 1% hands with violence would do well to read up on what Gandhi and King accomplished.
Nonviolence is about creating tension. Martin Luther King, Jr. (who clearly borrowed from Gandhi's play book) put it like this in his "Letter from the Birmingham Jail". As you read this, think about King sitting in a jail cell in a jean jacket, an occupier from back in the day, an occupier for the same cause of justice that is being pursued today::
"Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks to so dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood."
"The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation."
Here's the entire "Letter from the Birmingham Jail": http://abacus.bates.edu/admin/offices/dos/mlk/letter.html . It's a treasure and is as timely as ever.
So how do we fight back nonviolently? Here's one example of how: http://occupywallst.org/forum/fresh-thread-forum-post-below-received-over-2000-c/
Tearing the whole thing down is just silly. Our founders helped build one hell of a great country and just because it's been hijacked by corporate interests doesn't mean we should throw the baby out with the bath water and abandoned the underlying principles and structure. That's an immature thoughtless impractical approach. That's REacting instead of acting and getting real results. Nonviolent direct action works.
It makes it hard to identify the black bloc when everyone is asked to dress in black.
The police are in the 99%... Seems counter intuitive...
Yes, in this case the 1% is having their slaves do the work for them, big surprise? To further our cause, we need to get the police on our side, since as you said they are in the 99% as well and if they are unwilling to beat us up then we've won a huge battle.
Then maybe they should stop shooting at us.
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Maybe you should stop throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails, and glass bottles at them. Or maybe you should just obey the law like the 1% and most of the so called "99%" do already.
Just like MLK and Ghandi, right? Oh, wait...
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Looked like a war zone, symbolizing the big divide, the courage of the 99% and the innate violence of the uncontrolled greed.
the only thing physical is your foot on the pavement.
it's a walk. It's a color. simple.
Hello friends,
I hope this message finds you all in good spirits.
Something awful happened to me in Wyoming that could happen to anyone.I have made two videos which talk about this traumatic experience.One video is two minutes long http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxjHkMGe7cw and the other video is six minutes long http://youtu.be/rYwsW3mG_LM. Both videos discuss the same issue the only difference is that the 6 minute video is more in depth. I would appreciate it immensely if you could view at least one of these two videos.Then it would be nice if you could pass the URL for these videos to your friend and families and then ask them to pass it on to their friends and family. Thank you. Barry Kowal
You cannot change America without violent protests. I agree. Question is who and how do we attack ? Breaking windows or burning cars for example we would look like vandals. Blowing up a bridge we look like terriosts. We would have to become an Army of ourselfs with leaders or some type of commitee to plan our attacks. I do not think th U.S. military would support us. And just how many people are willing to cross this line past the point of no return ?
Your preachin in the wrong church. OWS and 99% are non-violent. We do not want thugs. Get peaceful or get gone!
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99% of these people need all of these things it might be their only source. IF you take away their education and health they will all die or not be smart enough to do important things.
When wearing black, you could look at this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqnimvUMCAk&feature=related
Put a bit of intensity into the demo.
All I can see is that all those who accuse the majority peaceful protestors have no proper logic and can be ignored. Nothing is change as the majority of the protestors are peaceful and that is always the truth, today, tomorrow or 30, 40, 50 years later, no matter what the police and the MSM do. If the police and MSM could make the majority of the protestors violent, they would win for good. If they cannot make the majority peaceful protestors violent, OWS wins for good. It is always the truth that peaceful protestors are the majority.
Our cries against violence must be equally loud against all who practice it, especially our own members. We can't fight tyranny by becoming tyrants ourselves.
Really? Did it ever occur to you that occupying that building was illegal?
Just a comment on the flag taken and set alight from Oakland's City Hall. Many may not support this type of behavior. Whatever you feel about this, KNOW that the flag has yellow tassels around its edges and KNOW that this signifies a state of WAR. Ask yourself why this flag, rather than a tassel-free flag, is in the chamber of Oakland's city council? If you see this flag in a courtroom, a public office, police precinct, question whether you will be given the treatment you ordinarily would expect. (Ask a soldier what this flag means...)
NON-violence direct action brings powerful change. Violence, on the other hand, plays right into the hands of the 1% and their minions. Get practical! Get tactical! It's important that occupy wall street speak up to remind everyone (middle America, the press, supporters --everyone -- that the movement is nonviolent and those who are violent or destroy property are not part of the movement.
Otherwise, we play right into the hands of the 1% who know exactly how to deal with violence. Nonviolent direct action brings real change. They have no play book for nonviolence. It befuddles them.
The more we push with nonviolent direct action, the more clear and consistent we are about our nonviolent stance in theory and in practice, the more we look like middle America when we're protesting, the more people will join the movement and the greater our chance of success. This is how real change will occur.
We do NOT need to tear down the whole system. The real revolution here is keeping the system we have intact. It is a beautiful and elegant system designed by our founders.
The problem is that has been high jacked by corporate interests and citizens up until now haven't had the inclination to rise up against such a high jacking. If we rise up NON-violently, we can help give voice to the out rage that is felt by millions of Americans. The Occupy Wall Street movement will swell in numbers this spring -- exponentially -- if we stay true to nonviolence. It is then that we will reinvigorate the electorate and, working together, extricate money from politics. It is then that we will make decisions from a position of united power rather than demands from a position of divided weakness.
Therefore, violence weakens the movement. Nonviolent direct action STRENTHENS the movement. We must speak up now on this. This is a crucial moment.
uh, what if your "black"?.
Good take back what is OURS. Solidarity Forever!
Really? The New York General Assembly is one minute celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. in a big way and now they seem to be saying things that could be construed as completely going against everything King stood for? Something doesn't seem right here. Is this the same NYGA?
What if the police just ignored them?
http://www.fastpencil.com/publications/847-Whooo A book all concerned Americans should read. This explains why The Occupy Movement is needed.
If someone wants to write up something with more information (the legal status of the building, proposals for what to use the building for, etc.) I'll put it up on my website:
http://freeindependentsun.com
Message me!
Unity Coalition Day to Day Update
http://usparliament.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=533&p=1035#p1035
What is happening to my OWS??? Is it being taken over by violent black bloc jerks????
yeah, they are called the POLICE
Every day we stare from the Capitol Steps at OccupHarrisburg, buildings that are empty along State Street, while we stand with the homeless in the rain, snow, high winds, cold temperatures. They have been abandoned since we took the steps October 15th. Homeless getting sick, it is a shame on this country. We need to take more buildings, and today we hope to march in solidarity with Oakland in Harrisburg, all welcome.
Private property exists only to exploit. By keeping a building abandoned while there are people who can use it, want to use it, and need to use it then the owners are defrauding the community with the state's aid.
If there is empty space in the form of an empty building in a city we should be using it.
Then what happens when another group wants this building? Does it come down to who has the most force to hold it?
No, it comes down to use, not force. That group can either aid the group in the building already or find another building to use that doesn't require force to use. "Right to use" should replace "property right," because the first helps the community while the latter exploits it.
What is your address? I'm on the lookout for land to invade.
Then I say Right to use means if I have a "higher" purpose than you, I have a "right"to take your property. Also, if you are successful in occupying an abandoned building, do you then occupy the electric/gas company's for utilities? Who pays for these things? I forgot water/sewer.
Whatever purpose you have is irrelevant because the space is being used and you cannot force someone out to invade it. It doesn't matter if you have a higher purpose or lower purpose. Occupying an abandoned building requires no force or invasion because it is not being possessed in terms of use. All that exists is a title and a state to protect it. You cannot occupy the electric/gas company like you asked because they are already occupied by their workers (otherwise the company would not be producing utilities to utilize; now if there is an abandoned electric company that can power the building, then a group can occupy that). Occupying the electric company would mean kicking the workers/managers out so your group can run it for utilities for the building. But why do that when the group can just stay in their building and pay the companies for the utilities? The group can either pay or create their own electric source and water supply.
so can i have people move into your home? They must be some empty space where they can live.
Since most occupiers live in their parents' basements, the available options might be limited to the utility closet or the washtub.
http://knowledge321.wordpress.com/ stay strong everybody it's game on how long 50 years should do it.........
i will be there. I am 66 years old. I have sobbed to see what I and .more importantly my children and grandchildren, are up against. I will be there. Though I work and do not exactly live around the corner from NYC I have made it my commitment to participate as often as possible. (I have been to Zuccotti Park already.) I commend you all for standing up for yourselves and your countrymen/women. So much is at stake here. . . We will remain home of the free because of the brave and now we know who the brave really are. Thank you, thank you.
non-violent witness to the criminal State, i.e., Empire...redux
You’ve heard the old saw, “you can’t cheat an honest man”? And, of course, you know why this is so. Then try this: “you can’t cheat an honest revolution!” The essential truth of the former transfers to this ethic as well!
Let us not strive to establish an enemy only to try and successfully counter the enemy by—what?—becoming the enemy, i.e., fighting fire with fire. No one accedes to the idea of war without consenting to arm for same. And, there is NO such thing as engaging in “a little bit of war”, i.e., war qua war is ALWAYS an ALL OUT affair. It is consuming, in every sense of the term…
A Power-driven act begets same. Rather, let it be the Bakhtinian idea of Carnivalesque--resistance, not doing battle...
Empire traffics in Power-driven acts--and humanity bleeds, globally and at home. Do not replicate same.
Informed Resistance, not internecine 'righteous' battle.
"The revolution will be moral or it will not be revolution" Charles Péguy
There will be bloodshed but it must be only ours. If they are violent toward us let it be against nonviolent, peaceful protestors.
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If we are lucky (tonight is Sunday night and the 99% works tomorrow) perhaps we can get maybe a few thousand out tonight?
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Is there a particular reason you guys are choosing to wear black? If all you want to do is march, then it really doesn't matter, but given the fact that tensions between OWS and the police are continuing to build I'm not sure that's what will happen. All it takes is one fool to throw a rock or a bottle and all of a sudden you're going to have a massive crowd of people in black mixing it up with the police. Is that necessarily a risk you want to take?
Wearing black helps the good protesters blend in with the black bloc. ;-)
it's a color. Oakland's color. It's for our fallen(arrested) friends. It's a statement of unity.
Sure, some undercover may toss a bottle, but that's his autonomous dumb ass move, not at statement of the whole movement.
Fair enough, but what's important is that if some undercover tosses a bottle the rest of the marchers know to grab him and haul him off the front lines (and afterwards deal with him yourselves and/or hand him over to the cops) right away before something actually starts. If you guys are willing and capable of that then there's no problem, but if you're not then there's still a chance of things going badly wrong.
I completely agree
"It's a statement of unity."
Yes, and beware the vague statement misinterpreted--i.e., if the OPD is drawing a line in the sand and saying (out of stupidity, arrogance, etc.) "I dare you"--and, you oblige them, YOU are working for THEM.
Instead of mimicking the Power brokers, do the more difficult thing: educate the 99% who don't show up to show up next time...
Arrogance, machismo, unloading rage, etc., are E-A-S-Y, compared to--what?--EDUCATION of the 99% not yet on the street!
INFORM, not PERFORM!
Think about it...
who is raging? this is a non violent movement. showing ourselves on the street in a peaceful march of solidarity is hardly unloading rage.
I think what some of the people are saying here is that it is important that the group make it clear beforehand that there is to be no violence. All you need is for one autonomous person there to throw something and then the police have all the excuse they need to set in on the entire group, even fire live rounds. One random person throws a rock and a hundred people get shot. This is the difference between MLK and the Black Panther. We must make it clear that anyone participating in the march/protest with us must remain nonviolent because we are putting unprotected and unarmed bodies in front of guns and we need those guns to not fire.
"who is raging? this is a non violent movement."
If you are NOT enraged then you are not paying attention--either that or (more likely) you are being disingenuous...There is EVERYTHING in the world to be enraged about, but let us be careful not to unload it in an "us versus them" moment.
"who is raging? this is a non violent movement."
Your two ideas are NOT mutually exclusive, i.e., there are ways to unload rage without being violent--i.e., without physically hurting someone...
And, the "ourselves" context needs to be defined--"ourselves" as in: black bloc, anarchists, someone who showed up eager to...'engage' (e.g., in a donnybrook: "is this brawl private or can anyone join in?")?
The point (AGAIN): if, at the outset, we establish an "us" versus "them" ethic with one side politically oppressed (read: "aggression") and the other side armed to the teeth--literally! (in addition to the motivating overtime pay) which scenario will unfold?
NO "us" versus "them" in a heated street encounter! It will go bad--count on it! In addition to the MAIN point: it is COUNTER PRODUCTIVE!
NO aggression--it will go bad!
I'd recommend you occupy oakland cowards ought to wear yellow--the bunch of pansies that you are.
Be prepared to hear the shrieking of the little OWS bitches as they get tear gassed...again
To: Prime Minister Roseanne Barr [Green Tea] Prime Minister Miss Joy Waymire [Libertarian] Prime Minister Ralph Beach [Libertarian/Independent] Secretary Rhett Smith [Green] Cc: All Voters and Non Voters From: Secretary James Ogle [Free Parliamentary] Subject: USP Day to Day Updates 1/24/2012
Note: Please feel free to engage or disengage from this communication link by sending the message "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to joogle@gonott.com or by telephone at 415-686-1996. OK to "reply all". Anonymous forwarder now available upon request. http://www.usparliament.org/
Prime Minister Lynnice Wedewer [Democratic] Elected on 1/24/2012 http://www.lynnicewedewer.com/
The 8th USA Parliament's ruling coalition has approved rule #36 which implements the requirement for "ranked choice consensus voting" when the five national executives elect the parliament's planks of the platform.
24th Prime Minister Ralph Allen Beach [Libertarian/Independent] Elected on 1/23/2012 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ralph-Allen-Beach-for-President-in-2012/267738703251841 http://www.lp.org/
23rd Prime Minister Miss Joy Waymire [Libertarian] on 1/22/2012 http://www.joy4thepeoplesvoice.com/ http://www.lp.org/
10th Secretary Rhett Smith [Green] Elected on 1/22/2012 http://rhettforcongress.com/ http://www.gp.org/
Charles Kramer [Eco-Socialist] Self Appointed on 1/18/2012 MSP=member of super-state parliament
Charles Kramer [Eco-Socialist] Self Appointed on 1/18/2012 MSP=member of super-state parliament
MSP Max Abramson [Libertarian] Self Appointed on 1/18/2012 MSP=member of super-state parliament
MSP David Mick [Republican] Self Appointed on 1/15/2012 MSP=member of super-state parliament
The USA's Presidential elections of 2012 are beginning to fire up in the state conventions of all organized ballot qualified parties across the USA, and the 8th USA Parliament's "presidential debate committee" is holding and trying to hold debates and discussions at media outlets and state conventions.
But we're too small, we're going too slow and we're being decimated.
Fortunately, the national Libertarian Party is an ideal vessel for giving all parties and independents the liberty to self categorize as they wish, and their single-winner ranked choice voting system for president offers the perfect tool for expanding together to 1000 consecutively ranked names with plenty of consecutively ranked names as back-ups as a team, where the American voters are the team.
http://www.lp.org/
Please go to your state's national conventions over the next few months, and advocate for our group now.
The team of fifteen presidential candidates can't make every convention and meeting, because there are so many conventions across the country.
Our Team of Presidential Candidates: http://usparliament.org/pdc.php
So this is when we need people to represent us at these conventions and meetings. Please feel free to call in if you need help on understanding what needs to be done.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
Very Truly Yours, --James Ogle, volunteer vote counter 415-686-1996
MSP Rhett Smith [Green] Self Appointed on 1/11/2012 http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1531245345 MSP = member of super-state parliament
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Spammers get out.
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" Police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, beanbag rounds and mass arrests. The state has compounded its policy of callous indifference with a ruthless display of violent repression." This is hardly ruthless. Ruthless is shooting demonstrators as in Syria. The Oakland arrested will get off with light to no fines even after causing damages and costing the city. We should pay for these damages and costs to the city, Otherwise the 99% has too...
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fight back with your feet and your heart. no nazi's need apply.
Once a crowd of black shirts starts getting physical, the lines begin to blurr. Do you want to destroy this movement? That is exactly what I think you are trying to do.