Occupy activists still occupying land of UC Berkeley
Post doctoral student Hong Li doing research on the Gill Tract. Credit Damon Lisch
On April 23, we reported on Occupy activists seizing a 10 acre tract of land known as the “Gill Tract”, owned by University of California at Berkeley. They claimed they were seizing the land to preserve its farm nature, because the University was going to sell the property for retail development.
Except, as with other Occupy stories, their side of the story wasn’t quite true.
Turns out that while other land was being sold, the land being occupied was already being used for agricultural research by students and researchers of the University. Occupiers were well aware of this fact, as one of the Occupiers had actually been a student of one of the professors working the land.
According to NBC The Bay Area:
UC Berkeley Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer and Vice Chancellor John Wilton said in a letter to the community that the existing agricultural fields will continue to be used as an open-air laboratory by the students and faculty of the College of Natural Resources for agricultural research.
and
Breslauer and Wilton said the university has been actively participating in a collaborative, five-year long community engagement process about our its proposed development project but Occupy the Farm appears to have little regard for the process or the people who have participated in it.
They said, “We take issue with the protesters’ approach to property rights. By their logic they should be able to seize what they want if, in their minds, they have a better idea of how to use it.”
Some of UC Berkeley’s agricultural scientists working with the land weighed in on the issue, to the local Albany Patch newspaper.
Scientist Damon Lisch (an Albany resident and parent) wrote this week:
“I know, from talking to a lot of people, that science means something scary, corporate and alienating, but that has nothing to do with what we do. Our work is paid for by you through your tax dollars (mostly through the National Science Foundation and the USDA), and the results of our research are available to everyone. As long as these occupiers sit on our field, we can’t teach or make new discoveries, and that doesn’t seem right to me.”
The scientists noted that the longer the occupation stays the more it will throw off their work. For some of the graduate students it may delay their ability to get their degrees. For high school students that were to work with the scientists, they might not be able to have that experience. For Damon Lisch, it may mean that he loses his research grant:
“This year is critical for me, since I’m on the last year of a grant, and to kick-start my next grant (assuming I get one), I absolutely need to set up the proper genetics now. I should also mention that I am on soft money, which means all my income comes from grants, so no grants, no income. That means that what the Occupiers are doing is directly threatening my ability to support my family.
“I’d like to suggest that a lot of the people involved in Occupy the Farm probably had no idea of how much harm they were doing to our research, or what our research even is,” Lisch said.
The University noted that it would continue to have a dialogue with the activists and seek a “peaceful resolution”. They said the researchers need to be planting soon and their work cannot be impeded.
Occupiers have vowed to stay.
Brooklyn man’s home finally “un-occupied”
In December, OWS seized a house in Brooklyn claiming they were taking back a foreclosed home from Bank of America to give it to a homeless family. There was great fanfare, including speeches by Charles Barron, NYC City council member.
Except it was all a lie.
The home had not been foreclosed yet, and was still owned by Wise Ahadzi, a single dad with two daughters. OWS was fully aware that he still owned the property, as was Charles Barron, according to Mr. Ahadzi.
Wise Ahadzi and his two daughters
The “homeless family” never moved in; instead it became another squat for OWS members, who destroyed the property.
According to the NY Post, it’s finally unoccupied. Police arrested six OWS members:
Mohammed Olivo, 22, of The Bronx, was charged with resisting arrest and burglary. Also charged with burglary were: Carlos Goodall, 18, of Valhalla, NY; Mitchell Hundt, 20, of Chicago; Sean Gregg, 18, of Philadelphia; Terrence Hubbard, 23, of Ohio; and East Village resident Decorrus Jones, 25, who has been arrested 31 times for crimes like trespass and petit larceny. “He steals a lot,” cops said of Jones.
Wise Ahadzi, the property’s owner, was thrilled that cops collared the people who were preventing him and two daughters from getting back into their home.
“I’ve been angry since Day One,” Ahadzi said. “I told them that I didn’t want anybody there.”
The bill to fix the damage is at least $12,000, a source said.
“We’re exploring the possibility of assisting him with repairs to the property,” said Bank of America spokesman T.J. Crawford.
Occupy graffiti vandalizing a historic NY church
Occupy graffiti was tagged on the plaque of Grace Church, on Broadway, near the Occupy encampment at Union Square.
The church, a fixture in NY since 1847, has been called “one of the city’s greatest treasures”, is a National Historic Landmark designated for its architectural significance and place within the history of New York City.
This is not the first church that has suffered Occupy damage.
In Dec. 17, OWS broke into the Trinity Church lot at Duarte Square, claiming they should have the right to “occupy it”.
Two churches that offered Occupiers housing after they were evicted from Zuccotti Park also suffered damage. One church had a lid to a baptismal font stolen and damaged, and another had a cross desecrated with urine. One of the pastors also had a laptop stolen.
On April 1, Occupy San Francisco broke into a Catholic church property at 888 Turk St., claiming they would be opening it as the “SF Commune” to provide free services to people of the neighborhood. They caused thousands of dollars of damage, tagging insults at police all over the building. George Wesolek, the Catholic Archdioscese spokesperson noted the building was to be used to help poor students:
“The next thing that we had proposed to use them for was to lease them out to appropriate folks, and then have a revenue stream – which would help the school and the educational ministry there, but also help the many students who need tuition assistance.”
“About 35 to 40 percent of students at that particular school need tuition assistance, because they come from low-income families,” Wesolek said, explaining the need for the revenue that would have been provided by leasing the building.
Occupy SF has claimed that they have seized another Archdiocese property which they will reveal on May 1.
Anonymous defaces site of International Police Association
Anonymous took credit for attacking the International Police Association (IPA) website today, defacing it with angry messages. As of this evening, the site remains defaced.
While stating that they did it for “lulz”, they also suggested that they may have taken sensitive data from the site.
The defaced page contains the following message:
“oHai [hello]… International Police Association (International Admin Center) you will see we haz [had] some #LULZ at your expense maybe you will fix your security issues and of course… we always recommend you NOT store admin passwords in PLAINTEXT For a site like International Police Association… w3 [we] really expected moar [more]… #LULZ the thin…”
According to Wikipedia, the International Police Association is the largest organization for police officers in the world and has approximately 400,000 members in 64 countries. Its stated purpose is to encourage cooperation among police officers of the world.
This attack was allegedly part of a stated effort against police, known as #FuckFBIFriday, which has involved attacks on law enforcement sites over the past several months. These attacks have involved everything from hacking and stealing info to DDOS. Recently, with the slew of Anonymous arrests, including those of Higinio Ochoa (“Wormer”) and John Anthony Borrell III (ItsKahuna), for a period of time, #FFF attacks had seemed to slow or stop.
Adbusters: May Insurrection – block tunnels, seize ports, confront NATO
Via Adbusters:
The May 2012 Insurrection:
Tactical briefing #30
Hey you dreamers, strikers and new left redeemers out there,
For thirty-one magical days beginning this Tuesday, May 1, we take the plunge and Strike! We block the Golden Gate Bridge; occupy a Manhattan-bound tunnel; seize the ports. In 115 cities, we march into banks, erect tents and refuse to leave. We disrupt financial institutions forcing thousands to preemptively close. Five thousand of us pray, dance, sleep on Wall Street and in front of the Fed and if the Bloombergs of the world bring out paramilitary police to intimidate us, we use our social media fire to call out 50,000 more occupiers.
In the week before the G8 and NATO summits, we light the spark globally. We occupy hundreds of squares in cities on every continent – from Paris to Berlin, Toronto, to Athens, Sao Paulo, Bucharest and beyond – we up the ante with direct actions that paralyze capitalism. For a few days, maybe for a full month, we act as if we already live in a world run by people, not corporations.
Our movement goes geopolitical later in May. We swarm Chicago and confront NATO. We tell the military elites there to stop their saber rattling against Iran, halt the global arms race and get behind what the majority of the people on Earth want: a nuclear-free world starting with a nuclear-free Middle East that includes both Iran and Israel.
And then when the G8 leaders meet in Camp David, we create a global spectacle the likes of which the world has never seen before … millions of us … individually, in flash groups and en masse, we burst out laughing at the lunacy of the eight most powerful political leaders on the planet thinking they can dictate the people’s business from behind closed doors and barbed wire fences. For one day, we take over the global mindspace with a whirlwind of #LAUGHRIOT jokes. (Like: Why did the G8 chickens cross to Camp David? / Cuz they’re on the other side. haha!) We laugh our heads off on every news broadcast in the world.
May 1968 was the first wildcat general strike in history … it lasted two weeks and was a grand gesture of refusal still remembered, but then it fizzled … maybe this May we won’t?
for the wild,
Culture Jammers HQ
Where was Kalle Lasn and Adbusters with that 50, 000 on Nov 15 when Occupy was evicted from Zuccotti? Or when Occupy broke into the Trinity Church lot and tried to “occupy” it? For that matter, why since his announcement of the “Laughriot” hashtag in March has it been a dead hashtag?
This was posted on OccupyWallSt.org and with only a couple of responses including ”take your ads elsewhere”, another sign of the unhappiness of being dictated to, even by those claim to have started this.
OWS may have some thousands out in the streets on May 1, mostly due to unions and advocacy groups. But it wouldn’t be because of Adbusters.
But while we can chide Adbusters for its hyperbole and posturing, again see clearly what is desired here-an attempt, as they state very clearly, to “paralyze capitalism”.
Occupy: personal army for SEIU and ACCE
On Tuesday, several hundred people, including members of Occupy, showed up outside the Merchant’s Exchange Building in downtown San Francisco, where Wells Fargo was holding a shareholders meeting. Claiming they were protesting the bank’s alleged “greed” and involvement in foreclosures on homes, the group gave speeches outside the building, banged drums, and some tried to get into the meeting. Some were able to get in briefly but were then removed as they rose to disrupt the meeting once it started. According to Wells Fargo, the meeting proceeded as scheduled.
“Let my hard-earned money speak for itself,” said shareholder Ralanda King, as quoted by ABC. “I expected to be let in, as my right as a shareholder. I came over 2,000 miles to come to this meeting only to be held back.”
According to SF Gate:
Nine protesters were arrested outside the building on charges including trespassing and resisting arrest, said police spokesman Sgt. Michael Andraychak. All were cited and released except for two, who were booked on charges of attempting to hit sheriff’s deputies, he said.
While it didn’t really disrupt the conduct of the meeting, it did apparently disrupt the surrounding businesses and people, says My Political Intervention:
The blockade, intended to disrupt shareholders from attending the meeting, largely succeeded in becoming a nuisance to those that worked in the area. Anyone that attempted to pass through the chain of people were interrogated as to their profession and how much money they made. In one instance, a woman had to arguably explain that she worked for a non-profit before Occupy SF allowed her to go to work.
Was this group a spontaneous grass roots flood of anger from the run of the mill person in the street?
Well, no not really. Check the pictures:
SEIU operatives waiting to board buses to go to protest
Flatbed for speeches provided by SEIU
Chinese Progressive Association-another union with red flags
In additon to SEIU and the Chinese Progressive Association, there were signs from the CWA, Causa Justa, Code Pink, and Occupy. Oh and the “pro fabulous anti capitalist” Queer Feminist Bloc.
The numbers, however, were mostly SEIU women; once they left, numbers dropped appreciably.
Even Ralanda King, the random quoted shareholder who came just for the meeting? Democratic politician and operative from Philadelpia.
No grassroots to be found.
As My Political Intervention notes, this effort was at least in part organized by ACCE – Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE). While some may not be familiar with ACCE, that is at least in part because they changed their name. ACCE used to be known as ACORN. ACORN derivatives can be found at many of the other Occupy operations, most notably New York, where it is manifest in the involvement of NYCC (New York Communities for Change) and the involvement of members of the Working Families Party.
ACCE was involved with a similar protest against Bank of America in November, 2011 where people stormed inside the bank building at ACCE’s behest. In this video of the event by Lee Stranahan, you can see the organization behind their actions.
But didn’t this all stem from outrage of the people in the Occupy movement?
Well again not exactly.
These efforts by the SEIU and others against the banks such as Wells Fargo and Bank of America have been going on for awhile and predate the Occupy movement. They don’t just involve actions outside of office buildings but marches on the private homes of people.
Check this article from May 2010, where 14 buses of SEIU thugs went to the house of the deputy general counsel for BOA and frightened his teen aged son who called next door neighbor, reporter Nina Easton in a panic.
Easton asks raises interesting points in her article:
What’s interesting is that SEIU, the nation’s second largest union, craves respectability. Just-retired president Andy Stern is an Obama friend and regular White House visitor. He sits on the President’s Fiscal Responsibility Commission. He hobnobs with those greedy Wall Street CEOs — executives much higher-ranking than my neighbor Baer — at Davos. His union spent $70 million getting Democrats elected in 2008.
In the business community, though, SEIU has a reputation for strong-arm tactics against management, prompting some companies to file suit.
Now those strong-arm tactics, stirred by supposedly free-floating (as opposed to organized) populist rage, have come to the neighborhood curb. Last year it was AIG executives — with protestors met by security guard outside. Now it’s any executive — and they’re on the front stoop. After Baer’s house, the 14 buses left to descend on the nearby residence of Peter Scher, a government relations executive at JPMorgan Chase (JPM,Fortune 500).
Targeting homes and families seems to put SEIU in the ranks of (now jailed) radical animal-rights activists and the Kansas anti-gay fundamentalists harassing the grieving parents of a dead 20-year-old soldier at his funeral (the Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on the latter). But that’s not a conversation that SEIU officials want to have
and:
SEIU has said it wants to organize bank tellers and call centers — and its critics point out that a great way to worsen employee morale, thereby making workers more susceptible to union calls, is to batter a bank’s image through protest. (SEIU officials say their anti-Wall Street campaign has nothing to do with their organizing efforts.) Complicating this picture is the fact that BofA is the union’s lender of choice — and SEIU, suffering financially, owes the bank nearly $4 million in interest and fees. Bank of America declined comment on the loans.
In fact in March 2011, multiple news organizations including Business Insider and the Blaze reported on a tape of a speech from SEIU leader Stephen Lerner speaking at the Left Forum (a Leftist planning conference) about a plan to “destabilize the country” by bringing down banks and Wall Street, to cause a redistribution of wealth. This plan would have “community groups and other activists” taking the lead. Lerner noted how we have to take what we are doing now in Madison to Wall Street and do the same thing there. Sound familiar?
Occupy, you weren’t co opted by the unions and the far Left, you’ve been their creation since the beginning. How does it feel to be ACORN and SEIU’s “personal army”?
Historic Views of NYC
Via the Daily Mail:
Almost a million images of New York and its municipal operations have been made public for the first time on the internet.
The city’s Department of Records officially announced the debut of the photo database.
Culled from the Municipal Archives collection of more than 2.2 million images going back to the mid-1800s, the 870,000 photographs feature all manner of city oversight — from stately ports and bridges to grisly gangland killings.
Unfortunately, due to the great demand, the site has been deleted for the moment. But this photo and several more can be found at the Daily Mail site:
Jihadi Jumpkick
Via The Jawa Report is this morning’s comedy gold.
Meet Tarek Maaroufi, a member of the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria who served three years for terror involvement in Belgium. He is a serious terrorist. But as Jawa notes, we’re not really sure what the heck he is doing here. But whatever it is, it must be cool. Because he posted it to Facebook.
See if you can figure out what he is doing here
Apparently Tarek’s website had a small problem and went off line courtesy of anti Jihadist hacker th3j35t3r.
Moral of the story? If you’re a terrorist, don’t post things that make people giggle on Facebook.
Danny Glover ditches Occupy
Via the Washington Examiner:
According to several activists at an Occupy protest at the Justice Department Tuesday, Danny Glover really blew it. The actor didn’t show for the event, despite receiving top billing in advertising materials.
“I feel sorry for Danny Glover,” one demonstrator told Yeas & Nays. “He missed his chance to make a statement.” Glover was supposed to march around the FBI building and block traffic on Pennsylvania Ave., provoking arrest in support of jailed activist Mumia Abu-Jamal. “He made a commitment,” another protester said.
The actor apparently called in to the protest to say he couldn’t make it, but some demonstrators didn’t believe it was really Danny Glover on the call.
About 30 other people were estimated to have been arrested demonstrating near the White House. They protested next to the White House fence, with several signs and chants regarding Mumia Abu Jamal. They also had a “No Government” sign with an anarchy symbol on it.
Mumia Abu Jamal was convicted of killing police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981. According to evidence submitted at trial, Jamal shot the officer in the back and then walked up to him and shot him in the head.
Daniel Faulkner
Occupy Evicted from NYC loft space
Via My Political Intervention and the Wall Street Journal comes the story of Occupy Wall Street being evicted yesterday from a Lower Manhattan loft space that had served as a headquarters and a squat for several of its members.
The property at 40 Exchange Place had been rented by George Weathers for his business, Artists Seminar Plus, which offered training for actors. However, Mr. Weathers stopped paying his $6,200 rent back in August 2011, and began renting the space, called “Magic Mountain”, out for meetings and events. Building management began sending him letters, but in NYC, eviction process can take months.
In October, Mr. Weathers invited Occupy Wall Street members to use the space. Occupy was never on any lease for the property and apparently no notification of their involvement was given to the building management. Since their arrival in October, Mr Weathers has managed to hold off the eviction three times. OWS members actually appeared with him at one court appearance, apparently identifying themselves as part of his business, Artists Seminar Plus.
Now OWS is claiming they shouldn’t be kicked out because each member staying there has not been served with an eviction notice; that only George Weathers had been served.
According to the WSJ:
Philip Katz, an attorney for the management at 40 Exchange Place, said he was surprised to hear members of Occupy Wall Street were living in the space. The eviction was motivated not just by the nonpayment of rent but by complaints from other tenants of raucous parties and unsavory behavior, he said.
“We could not permit these parties. Underage people were actually physically attacked,” he said. “No papers submitted to the court indicated that Occupy Wall Street was staying there. I’m very surprised to hear that.”
Lisabeth Rapp, 27, an OWS member who had been staying in the loft, claimed the eviction was illegal, claiming they had been “denied due process”. They intend to go back to court on Thursday to argue they were not properly served.
40 Exchange Place appears to be commercial real estate which in NYC, which would militate against allowing residential use of the space. Commercial space is treated differently than residential property, not to the benefit of squatters.
Occupy Fakes Press Release of Museum Closing
Earlier today, the OWS Arts and Labor working group sent out a press release claiming the Whitney Museum was closing in support of OWS efforts to have a general strike on “May Day”, May 1.
The release claimed the Whitney was a ”wholly changed institution”, and that they had decided to break with their main corporate sponsors, Sotheby’s and Deutsche Bank. It also stated that the Whitney was going to “begin vetting each of its sponsors as part of an ongoing restructuring to respond to the needs of the public it serves instead of the private interests of a small minority who possess a vast majority of the nation’s wealth.”
See a full copy of the fake press release here:
The fake release didn’t fool many, as the Whitney is closed on Tuesdays, so it could not be open on May 1, in any event.
This is not the first ‘fake press release” or fake action precipitated by OWS. They have previously set up a fake Bank of America website, and also claimed that they had successfully lobbied a company to quit ALEC “the American Legislative Executive Council” (when it turned out the company had never belonged to ALEC).
OWS previous actions against museums and art institutions have included a violent confrontation with guards at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC and a protest of Sotheby’s in support of a workers’ union lobbying against the company. The protest against Sotheby’s even extended to actually invading a Danny Meyer restaurant in NYC, because Meyer was on the Board of Sotheby’s. According to OWS, Occupy Museums is “an ongoing protest that calls out corruption and injustice in institutions of art and culture” They claim that museums and art institutions are a ‘weapon of the 1%” and they reject using ‘art as a “financial instrument”. They plan on holding their own art fair outside the Frieze Art Fair in May, where “we will not use money but rather search for a value system that empowers everyone”.
It is rather ironic that OWS chastises the Whitney for having Deutsche Bank as a sponsor. Since their removal from Zuccotti Park in November of last year, OWS has held the majority of its meetings in the atrium lobby at 60 Wall Street-the Deutsche Bank building. So, in a very real sense, they indeed are “sponsored” by the Deutsche Bank.
Judge: Occupier’s tweets fair game for prosecutors
Via Reuters:
An Occupy Wall Street protester has lost his bid to quash a subpoena seeking his Twitter records from last fall, when he was arrested during a mass protest on the Brooklyn Bridge.
Criminal Court Judge Matthew Sciarrino Jr., who is overseeing a special courtroom dedicated to handling nearly 2,000 Occupy-related cases, ruled that Malcolm Harris did not have standing to challenge the third-party subpoena. Prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office served the subpoena on Twitter in January, requesting Harris’ user information and more than three months’ worth of tweets.
The judge compared Harris to a bank account holder who by law cannot challenge a subpoena of his records served on his bank.
“Twitter’s license to use the defendant’s Tweets means that the Tweets the defendant posted were not his,” the judge wrote in a decision filed Friday.
Sciarrino’s ruling — which featured a handful of hashtags such as, “That motion is #denied” — could bolster similar subpoenas that prosecutors have served on Twitter seeking records from other Occupy protesters.
Even though Harris lacked standing, Sciarrino said prosecutors had met the “low” legal threshold required to issue a subpoena.
In particular, he said prosecutors had shown that the tweets could have relevance to the case against Harris, by calling into question his “anticipated defense” that police officers led protesters onto the bridge before arresting them in October.
Martin Stolar of the National Lawyers Guild, who is representing Harris and filed the motion to quash, said he was planning to file a motion to reargue.
“I think the judge is incorrect in his understanding of the law,” he said.
The district attorney’s office declined comment Monday, referring to its brief in opposition to the motion.
The case is People v. Harris, Criminal Court of the City of New York, No. 2011NY080152.
Occupy Portland: 15 year old arrested and cameraman asaulted
After an attempt by Occupy Portland to re occupy Chapman Square Park, they were kicked out by police. In response, they aggressively harangued the police:
After police left, at around 2 am, a 15 year old occupier, who had earlier been verbally abusing the police, removed fencing around the park, destroying public property. The cameraman, who is not affiliated with Occupy and saw the crime, tells the police. The other occupiers claim he didn’t do it, although the video clearly shows he did. The cameraman is then attacked and threatened.
Local news, The Oregonian, noted the 15 year old boy was found and arrested while he was climbing the elk statue.
He was taken into custody and charged with criminal trespassing, criminal mischief and interfering with police. He was also cited for violating city codes. He was released to his mother.
The Oregonian, quoting the police, said:
”On that corner, demonstrators became mildly aggressive and repeatedly threatened that the real confrontation would happen on May Day (May 1st),” the press release said. “May Day is traditionally an opportunity for labor groups and activists to peacefully protest throughout Portland.”
and:
Police also said they took the threats about protesting on May Day as the group’s intention to protest on May 1, and that sources have said that some groups are interested in causing “more extreme civil unrest through more direct, disruptive action.”
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/04/portland_police_release_statem.html
Occupy seizes land from UC Berkeley
According to KGO TV, San Francisco,
A group of activists says it has taken over a tract of University of California at Berkeley-owned land on the Berkeley-Albany border and plans to plant seedlings and convert the land to agricultural use.
The group Occupy the Farm took over the property known as the Gill Tract, at San Pablo Avenue and Marin Avenue, this afternoon, and plans to stay overnight, group members said.
Activists described the property as “the last remaining 10 acres of Class I agricultural soil in the urbanized East Bay,” and noted that the university plans to sell the property for a retail development.
University officials and Albany police have not yet responded to calls seeking comment.
Private property isn’t private if Occupy wants it. If they want it, it is their right to take it.
Occupy the Bay Area: “We Revolt for a life worth living!”
Thought you might like to see some of the “New Propaganda for M1GS” that Occupy the Bay Area is putting out. ”M1GS” is an abbreviation for May 1 General Strike. If you think it was a play on “MIGS”, that was not unintentional, or without purpose. They want to do away with capitalism. And bosses. And work. In fact, they revolt for “a life worth living”. If you will not give them what they want, they are telling you that they will take it.
Occupy trying to co-opt immigrants to push numbers on May 1, includes call for revolution
OWS has been casting around, trying to bring in more people. In so doing, they have tried to pull from anywhere they might collect people with a cause, from “Justice for Trayvon” to the “de-colonization” movement.
One indictment of OWS, which has had the sting of truth, is the overwhelming lack of diversity(translation-no appreciable number of POC) in what is a principally white young male driven effort, at least in so far as the boots on the ground.
As part of the May Day effort to get people out, OWS has been promoting the statement and efforts of the “May 1st Coalition”, which is basically an immigrants’ rights endeavor. OWS makes clear their rationale for doing so in this first paragraph:
This May Day, Occupy Wall Street is rising up in solidarity with the immigrant rights movement. Years before #OWS, May Day was revitalized in the U.S. as a day of mass mobilization against the unjust, racist U.S. immigration system. On May Day 2006, the May 1st Coalition helped organize the largest protest in NYC history, bringing hundreds of thousands of people to the streets in a march stretching over 26 city blocks. This year, as we gather as a unified front for economic justice in a Day Without the 99%, they are leading the struggle to UNIONIZE, LEGALIZE, and ORGANIZE.
OWS then promotes the following statement from the May 1st Coalition:
Dear Brothers and Sisters
We bring you excellent news and a message from the May 1st Coalition.
On this May 1st 2012, there will a unified celebration. We immigrants have united with the most important unions of New York, the working class along with Occupy Wall Street. This has come about after long and intense debates, at which point we concluded an agreement to realize a single act on May 1st in historic Unión Square.
This agreement and example of unity was proposed to all the delegates at the National Conference and to the peoples, States and Counties of this country.
Also, given the incapacity of Congress and its two chambers, the White House and the corrupt political system of the United States, we propose on May 1st to transform our multifaceted forms of organization and struggle into one center of PEOPLE’S POWER, consisting of union power, of social power, including those from the countryside, in the sweatshop factories, and throughout the poor neighborhoods, all as an alternative to capitalist and imperialist power.
We demand LEGALIZATION for the 12 and perhaps 20 million undocumented immigrants which will in turn allow the youth to pursue higher education. Furthermore, no youth should be obliged to enter the Armed Forces and sent to fight imperial wars.
In calling for legalization for all NOW, we are demanding an end to:
deportations immigration raids the fracturing of families We demand debt forgiveness on houses lost and the return of those houses and property of the 15 million families affected by the mortgage crisis brought on by the avarice of the Banks.
We demand immediate employment for the 40 million chronically unemployed, whose ranks are swelling by the prolonged crisis and recession of the capitalist system on an international level. We Occupy to Create People’s Power.
We demand immediate freedom to the thousands of immigrants currently being held prisoner in the jails and concentration camps. We want immediate closure to the Center of Torture and extermination in Guantanamo. MR. OBAMA, ENOUGH OF YOUR LIES AND DEMAGOGUERY. Stop the torture!
We demand a halt to all war preparations against Iran. No to the utilization of nuclear arms against civilian populations. The United States is not the COP of the world. Troops out of Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and an end to all imperialist military bases around the world.
As always, we will fight for civil rights and the human rights for education, health and employment without discrimination of any type.
To our friends the people of Iran, we are always with you.
FRATERNAL GREETINGS TO ALL WOMEN WHO STRUGGLE. THEY ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL IN THE UNIVERSE.
It is only Revolution that will set us free. It is now time to CREATE, CREATE PEOPLE’S POWER IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST OF IMPERIALISM.
We will see you on May 1st in Union Square
http://occupywallst.org/article/may-1st-coalition-unionize-legalize-organize/
Occupier: Do You We Make You Feel Guilty?
Picture of Occupier at “sleepful” protest on Wall Street (about 25 people voluntarily sleeping on the street in anti-capitalist protest).
There are many things that go through my mind when reading this sign in context. But guilty is not one of them.
Occupy-Update on NYC OWS “Black Bloc” riot action
Alexander Penley Nicholas Thommen Eric Marchese
Update:
More background on the OWS/”Black Bloc” “FTP” riot this past weekend.
Original story can be found here: http://citizenjournalistdotorg.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/two-arrested-after-nyc-ows-black-bloc-ftp-march/
Participants:
While receiving broad local coverage, most of the MSM seemed to miss the OWS connection, despite the fact that the OWS involvement of at least two of the arrestees was easily ascertainable.
Alexander Penley and Nicholas Thommen were charged with assault on a police officer, menacing and inciting to riot after allegedly using a metal pipe to push back several cops in the Astor Place coffee clash Saturday night.
As we had noted, both Alexander Penley, 41, and Nicholas Thommen, 30, had connections with OWS; in fact, they were described on OWS twitter accounts as “organizers”. Twitter accounts also noted the “march” was full of OWS members. Additionally, OWS “jail support” was provided, and providing bail for the two men was discussed.
Both Penley and Thommen had prior records, despite Penley being an attorney. The New York Daily News noted:
Penley, who lives on the upper West Side, was charged 20 years ago with a entering a restricted area at a military facility in Boise, Idaho, the source said.
He also has arrests for marijuana possession with intent to distribute in Utah, for burglary, trespassing and vandalism in California and for failure to show up in court on a resisting arrest charge in Oregon.
Despite this prior arrest and charge of assault on a police officer, Penley was released without bail.
Penley can be seen on this “Occupii” page upon which he posted a video on the “Black Bloc tactics-10 Quick points”. http://occupii.org/profile/AlexanderPenley
Thommen also had prior arrests, in his home state of Oregon for driving with a revoked license, marijuana possession and harassment over the telephone, the source said. Thommen was held on $1000 bail.
The third man, Eric Marchese, 24, had a prior arrest in New Jersey for “improper behavior”, a disorderly persons offense.
Anarchist Book Fair and Judson Church:
We noted in our prior article that there were flyers given out for the march at the Anarchist Book Fair at Judson Church, and asked the question why would a church allow that.
Judson Church has housed various Occupy events, as well as Occupiers themselves, after they were evicted from Zuccotti Park. OWS allocated regular money payments to Judson as well as other churches who were housing Occupiers.
Lee Stranahan notes more on Alexander Penley and on some of the “talks” that one could have attended at the Book Fair at Judson. http://leestranahan.com/page/2
These talks included:
Self-defense and street combat for anarchists… – Sunday, 4:15-5:45pm Judson Assembly Room
J. “G.” J.
will provide a basic overview of offense and defense when dealing with recalcitrant fascists and/or pig police. We will deal with holds, strikes, traps and disarming techniques. No prior martial arts experience is necessary. The techniques are simple and effective, derived from the Yip family Wing Chun lineage (invented by a womyn, for wimmin and slight-bodied people). Anyone with experience, ideas and techniques of their own are welcome and encouraged to share! Come prepared to move, and preferably with someone you trust to work with. I try to make this as fun and non-triggering as possible! *appropriate for teens.
In all of this anarchist approach, we can see the nature of an altered reality. It is the view of the imagined police state that somehow will be negated by smashing windows and running through the streets. Where even children can be brought to the fray.
While we have seen OWS utilize “black bloc” most notably in Oakland prior to this past weekend, it hadn’t been a big part of the action in NYC.
However, OWS NYC has a “working group” called the “OWS Black Knights” who in their description describe themselves as “black bloc” (as well as Black Panther and Marine). This group has even requested funding for black clothing and capes, for their “security” role. Hard to know how much of that is hyperbole; there is no evidence that anyone involved in that working group has been involved in anything illegal. http://www.nycga.net/groups/ows-black-knights/events/
However, what is clear is as May 1 and the summer approaches, OWS will be trying to ramp up what action they can to get people’s attention. With “black bloc” which is as much an attitude as a tactic, OWS may be in for a rough summer of confrontation and a very unreceptive public.
