occupy SF shuts down a FIDI branch of bank of america. the cops don’t like it. the cops start hurting people. including myself. i took a night stick to the chest for helping a young woman out of harms way after the cops sent her flying to the ground right in front of me. she was the second woman and peaceful protester that was thrown violently to the ground, literally right before my eyes, for simply exercising their rights. they were not a threat to the officers who attacked them. before you judge anyone please go check things out for yourself. don’t let life pass ya by.
(via cancerninja)
Organized labor’s early flirtation with Occupy Wall Street is starting to get serious.
Union leaders, who were initially cautious in embracing the Occupy movement, have in recent weeks showered the protesters with help — tents, air mattresses, propane heaters and tons of food. The protesters, for their part, have joined in union marches and picket lines across the nation. About 100 protesters from Occupy Wall Street are expected to join a Teamsters picket line at the Sotheby’s auction house in Manhattan on Wednesday night to back the union in a bitter contract fight.
Labor unions, marveling at how the protesters have fired up the public on traditional labor issues like income inequality, are also starting to embrace some of the bold tactics and social media skills of the Occupy movement.
Last Wednesday, a union transit worker and a retired Teamster were arrested for civil disobedience inside Sotheby’s after sneaking through the entrance to harangue those attending an auction — echoing the lunchtime ruckus that Occupy Wall Street protesters caused weeks earlier at two well-known Manhattan restaurants owned by Danny Meyer, a Sotheby’s board member.
Organized labor’s public relations staff is also using Twitter, Tumblr and other social media much more aggressively after seeing how the Occupy protesters have used those services to mobilize support by immediately transmitting photos and videos of marches, tear-gassing and arrests. The Teamsters, for example, have beefed up their daily blog and posted many more photos of their battles with BMW, US Foods and Sotheby’s on Facebook and Twitter.
“The Occupy movement has changed unions,” said Stuart Appelbaum, the president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. “You’re seeing a lot more unions wanting to be aggressive in their messaging and their activity. You’ll see more unions on the street, wanting to tap into the energy of Occupy Wall Street.”
The New York Times, “Occupy Movement Inspires Unions to Embrace Bold Tactics.”
Well no wonder the right hates Occupy.
(via pieceinthepuzzlehumanity)
(via diegueno)
Remember this the next time you see or hear a right-wing reactionary put down demonstrations.
And it’s shit like this that I don’t really think people understand. While you’re supporting the gutting of food stamps, medicaid, and other social programs, you’re legitimately committing people to die.
(via seriouslyamerica)
What SDPD Chief Bill Lansdowne displays in this recording is the malaise through out the upper echelons of the government of The City of San Diego where there is a refusal to participate in the General Assembly process. If Chief Lansdowne himself really wanted to communicate with Occupy San Diego, he or his staff would have asked anyone in OSD what is the best way to do it. Lansdowne would have been told that he had to participate in a general assembly. That’s not to say that he would have been received politely by the GA, but it would have shown some understanding of the group. He didn’t show it, nor did the Mayor or the City Council. It is this last group which have shown the least amount of imagination, courage or gumption to avoid police action at The Civic Center.
If they were going to show some service to avoid police action against OSD, the mayor, council or their staff would have taken the time to participate too. And, if they were watching what was going on outside of their offices, they would have found out that they would have had as much right as any other concerned citizen to participate in a GA. Like another story where several things get messed up and there is plenty of blame to go all around, The Mayor and The City Council, all 9 of them, appear to be the Lt. Keefers of this story: they could have at least tried to avoid all of this, show some initiative if not leadership, and put up with the bother of parking their asses for a few hours of a cold, dark evening on the concrete of the Civic Center or damp gravel of Children’s Park to mediate the issue. One would think that The Mayor and The City Council would have taken a few minutes of a work day this past October and asked the Occupiers what they wanted; had they made that effort, the elected officers would have learned that much of what Occupy San Diego wants would fix many of the city’s problems, that the Mayor and much of the Council could have a potentially powerful constituency. Instead, what we saw was the standard modus operandi from just about any mayor or city council member in San Diego for as long as I can remember: milquetoast conduct, no one taking any risks in office inflexibly standing on ceremonious conduct and sanctimonious status; thus reaffirming occupiers’ cynicism about the corrupt state of politics and public service.
As a new public letter circulated by RootsAction notes, the only “permit” Occupy protesters need is the First Amendment, which affirms “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
In the past year, when people across the Middle East occupied public squares, leaders in Washington cheered them on and warned other governments against using force. (See the video below.) Those other societies didn’t even have a First Amendment to cite. Yet official Washington affirmed the universal right to assembly and protest.
Now, it’s time for the pols to stick up for democracy here in the US. Sign on to RootsAction’s petition to the nation’s mayors and police chiefs affirming your support for the right to unfettered peaceful protest. It’s what made America great.
NYC’s Mayor Bloomberg on Occupy Wallstreet
He was speaking Republican, let me translate this for people who don’t speak that strange language….
“Destroy jobs”- Try to create a level playing field so 1% doesn’t control the majority of the country’s wealth.
“Not productive”- It’s scary how many people are showing up, we must label them as slackers to discredit their cause.
“Assist companies”- Keep quiet while they reap in more wealth by standing with their foot on the neck of the working class.
“Give them confidence”- Give them more corporate tax cuts now or else.
“Hire people”- Layoff Americans and outsource the jobs to other countries because those people will work for peanuts and they don’t have silly laws against things like child labor sweatshops.
(via cornachio)
(via kileyrae)
Occupy Wall Street is getting a shot in the arm, as some of America’s largest unions have announced that they’re now supporting the movement. The gain in momentum comes as off-shoots of the original Manhattan group plan marches and protests around the nation.
…
The group has attracted some mockery, largely for its members’ proclivity for dressing up like zombies. But a new Rasmussen poll finds that the group enjoys a higher approval rating (33 percent) than does Congress (14 percent).Perhaps sensing a groundswell of opinion, several key Democrats have endorsed the group, including former Sen. Russ Feingold and Rep. John Larson, who called it a sign of a coming “American autumn” — a reference to the Arab Spring protests that have reshaped parts of the Middle East.
I’ve seen this quote from Gandhi used in reference to Occupy Wall Street:
“First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.”
However, I think this summary of social change from César Chávez, founder of the United Farm Workers of America, is also apropos to the movement:
“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours.”
I figured I should write down what happened today, before I forget or before too many stories get muddled together.
My friend, my partner, and I arrived at Zucotti Park around 3 for the march, which began quickly, after everyone shared various rules. (No violence, write the phone number for legal council on yr arm, etc, etc)
We marched through lower Manhattan, and no route was specified, but we were told to not pass the head of the crowd, which was carrying a banner. Cops stood by and kept us on the sidewalk.
Then I noticed we were approaching the Brooklyn Bridge.
Cops were ushering people onto the bridge, but as I noticed we were walking into the roadway, I started to get scared. We climbed over the fence onto the pedestrian bridge. The first half of the crowd continued on the road, while the second half continued on the pedestrian bridge. Cops were flanking both sides of the entrance to the bridge and there was no way to turn back. As we walked up the elevated pedestrian bridge, we heard cops call for backup and they drove 2 police vans backwards up the bridge to where the protesters were. They stopped traffic and then brought vans in from the other side as well and trapped the protesters.
We watched from above as people began climbing the cords and metal of the bridge to escape the cops. People on the pedestrian bridge were trying to pull people up out of the roadway.
We continued forward into Brooklyn as the cops brought a net onto the bridge from the Manhattan side.
By the time we gathered into the park in Brooklyn, only a few hundred of us were left.
Cops began surrounding the park, and we all disbanded.
One of my friends was in the area where cops had people corralled. According to her Facebook updates and tweets, and other updates from trapped protesters, a child was arrested, and busses were brought in to arrest every single person. All of the men were taken first, and then all of the women.
They were told they were being arrested for disorderly conduct.
The police led them there and trapped them.
Please reblog this. People need to know what happened, and cops need to be held accountable for their actions.
(via robot-heart-politics)
Government Orders You Tube To Censor Protest Videos
In a frightening example of how the state is tightening its grip around the free Internet, it has emerged that You Tube is complying with thousands of requests from governments to censor and remove videos that show protests and other examples of citizens simply asserting their rights, while also deleting search terms by government mandate.
The latest example is You Tube’s compliance with a request from the British government to censor footage of the British Constitution Group’s Lawful Rebellion protest, during which they attempted to civilly arrest Judge Michael Peake at Birkenhead county court.
This is what’s called Fascism.
You cannot fight police brutality with idle passive-aggression when the state supports violence against the citizens it swore to protect.
You cannot fight class oppression with the non-compliance of a minority when the majority conform, consent and comply to the capitalist Ponzi scheme.
Do not conform. Do not consent. Do not comply. Fight back.
Somehow I don’t think encouraging violence while calling out brutality is an entirely rational thing to do.
No, Occupy Wall Street should never turn violent. That defeats the whole purpose.
I have a feeling this is going to be an important photograph.
This is making me sick. So sick. My father was a cop. My Aunt is a cop. I know SO MANY good cops.
And now cops are doing this? Pepper spraying defenseless people who were doing nothing but standing on a sidewalk? Arresting people for crossing a street? What the fuck is going on?
WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO PROTECTING THE PUBLIC.
(via seriouslyamerica)
![cognitivedissonance:
thedailywhat:
Uniform Policy Protest of the Day: 12-year-old Chris Whitehead showed up at his school wearing a skirt to protest a policy that prohibits boys from wearing shorts in the summer.
The year 8 student took advantage of a loophole in the Impington Village College dress code, which doesn’t expressly ban boys from wearing skirts. “In the summer girl students are allowed to wear skirts but boys are not allowed to wear shorts,” Chris said. “We think that this discriminates against boys.”
Chris’s mother Liz says she supports her son’s actions and applauds him for “taking action on what he believes in.”
Headteacher Robert Campbell praised Chris as “a very bright and articulate student” with a possible future in politics, but gave no indication that the school would relent on its no-shorts policy. “Our uniform policy had a significant consultation and ours is typical of most schools in Cambridgeshire and the consensus was we were going to go for that,” Campbell is quoted as saying.
[telegraph.]
What a little BAMF. Way to think outside the box, kiddo!](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkzmvb2qhK1qzpwi0o1_500.jpg)
Uniform Policy Protest of the Day: 12-year-old Chris Whitehead showed up at his school wearing a skirt to protest a policy that prohibits boys from wearing shorts in the summer.
The year 8 student took advantage of a loophole in the Impington Village College dress code, which doesn’t expressly ban boys from wearing skirts. “In the summer girl students are allowed to wear skirts but boys are not allowed to wear shorts,” Chris said. “We think that this discriminates against boys.”
Chris’s mother Liz says she supports her son’s actions and applauds him for “taking action on what he believes in.”
Headteacher Robert Campbell praised Chris as “a very bright and articulate student” with a possible future in politics, but gave no indication that the school would relent on its no-shorts policy. “Our uniform policy had a significant consultation and ours is typical of most schools in Cambridgeshire and the consensus was we were going to go for that,” Campbell is quoted as saying.
[telegraph.]
What a little BAMF. Way to think outside the box, kiddo!
