The first anniversary of Occupy Wall Street was a joyous affair for the 99%.

Yet regrettably, it was also a day that illustrated how Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ‘private army’ has been increasingly unleashed to beat, arrest, imprison, and broadly suppress OWS.

Please post your videos, photos, and stories about how your rights were infringed on the Occupy Bloomberg’s Army Facebook page.

Occupy is a nonviolent movement, but this has not prevented Bloomberg’s Army from engaging in targeted arrests of specific organizers as well as random street ‘snatch and release’ intimidation tactics.

On September 17th not even the constant drone of helicopters overhead could drown out the screams of ‘I’m a journalist’ from the reporters who were arrested merely for practicing their and our right to freedom of the press.

And not even a cry of ‘I’m a City Councilmember’ was enough to staunch the established policy of brutality within the Mayor of Wall Street’s Police Department.

The message being sent by Bloomberg’s Army is being heard loud and clear. In Bloomberg’s New York: anyone who supports Occupy Wall Street in any fashion is being made an example of.

Were you one of these people extra-legally arrested or assaulted, or have you witnessed someone who was?

Post your videos, photos, and stories on the Occupy Bloomberg’s Army Facebook page.

We will not be stymied by the over 180 arrests on our anniversary, nor intimidated by the unprovoked and random nature of so many of them.

We will fight for our right to protest Wall Street while we protest Wall Street itself.

All Roads Lead To Wall Street

-- from the ‘Your Inbox: Occupied’ team (click here to subscribe)

To mark the one year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, a coalition of students, educators, and community groups will host the Free University Week—creating education that is democratic, critical, and accessible to all. This event will be held in Madison Square Park from Tuesday through Friday, September 18 - 21, from 2pm to 7pm, and on Saturday, September 22, from 10am to 2pm. Participants will gather in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street’s one year anniversary, as well as with education movements in Chicago, Quebec, Chile, and beyond.

Just across the street from the Free University, on Tuesday evening, the Barack Obama presidential campaign will hold a $40,000 a plate fundraiser at the 40/40 Club, hosted by Jay-Z and Beyoncé and attended by the president. The cost and exclusivity of the event is a reminder of both the increasing concentration of wealth in U.S. society and the inaccessibility of the political system to ordinary people. “The fact that the 1% can spend $40,000 on an evening, while millions of people have tens of thousands of dollars in debt hanging over their lives for getting an education, shows that the system is out of balance. We need free education for all, as demonstrated in the Free University, now more than ever,” said organizer Carwil Bjork-James.

Of the over 130 scheduled workshops at the Free University Week, highlights include: ‘On Disasters and Encampments’ with Rebecca Solnit; ‘Occupying Language: A Conversation’ with Marina Sitrin and Dario Azzellini; ‘The NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium’ with Ben Katchor; ‘Strike Debt’ workshop series with Pamela Brown, George Caffentzis, Nick Mirzoeff, and Andrew Ross; ‘Student Unionism’ workshop series with a member of Quebec’s CLASSE student union, an Occupy Wall Street Screenprinters art shop, and an ‘Occupy Guitarmy’ musicianship certificate program.

The first Free University on May Day, 2012, welcomed over 2,000 participants for dozens of classes and workshops in Madison Square Park. This week-long reprise rides the momentum of Occupy Wall Street’s September 17 actions, in addition to other demonstrations against neoliberal assaults on democracy and social justice. These include the ongoing Chicago teachers’ strike, the recent victory of the ‘Hot and Crusty’ workers' occupation in NYC, and the recent victory of the Quebec student movement that defeated a 75% tuition increase and ousted Premier Jean Charest. The Free University Week constitutes a hub of political education in New York City that will enhance the movement’s clarity, confidence, and direction for years to come.

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