NY Church which serves as Occupy Sandy hub suffers “suspicious” fire
Firefighters outside church early Sunday morning. Credit Ellen Moynihan.
A two alarm fire broke out in the historic Brooklyn, New York church, the Church of St Luke and St Matthew, yesterday morning. The church, which is 124 years old, made of stone and terra cotta, is designated a city landmark. One hundred firefighters fought the blaze for over 90 minutes, according to the Wall St Journal. The fire started in the entrance way of the Episcopal church. The Rev. Christopher Ballard, the church’s curate, said the flames had caused “significant damage,” burning the wooden doors of two entrances and charring the foyer. The sanctuary, he said, remained largely unscathed. Two historic chairs that were in the lobby were destroyed. No one was injured.
The church had been operating as a hub storing supplies for Hurricane Sandy relief for ”Occupy Sandy”, a relief effort associated with Occupy Wall Street. Though the police said the cause remained under investigation, they were on scene investigating, and labelled it “suspicious”, according to local ABC News. Rev. Ballard said the fire had been fueled by a pair of gasoline containers donated to Occupy Sandy volunteers. He said he was told by police that it “appeared someone had taken the gas and poured it on the entrance and all along the facade and lit it on fire.” The gasoline was intended for generators for a Christmas party yesterday in the Rockaways, an area heavily hit by Hurricane Sandy. Ballard also noted, regarding the gas, ”You’d have to know it was there”.
Three Occupy Sandy volunteers were sleeping in the church at the time the fire started. According to an Occupy site coordinator, they were there as a security precaution after a spate of thefts that included donated materials and Rev. Ballard’s bicycle. The volunteers made it out safely. The fire did not appear to have affected the donated supplies, despite earlier reports that they were destroyed. The Occupy Sandy coordinator noted they would likely now be helping to clean out the church. Their twitter account associated with the location also called for people to bring and donate poinsettias to help decorate the church today.
Councilwoman Letitia James, who represents the area, expressed outrage at what she called a hateful arson. “We will find the sick individual who committed this crime,” she said, standing outside the church.
Rev Ballard said the church would be back open this evening for services.
Walmart Black Friday protest: carpetbagger bust
The planned ‘Black Friday” protests at Walmarts across the country appear to have flopped.
“OUR Walmart”, an organization backed by the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) union, said it expected employees in 100 cities to walk off the job on “Black Friday,” the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season that accounts for up to one-half of retailers’ profits.
In response to the UFCW’s planned protests, Walmart US Chief Executive Bill Simon stated, “Only 26 protests occurred at stores last night and many of them did not include any Walmart associates.” In addition, the company did not experience the walk-offs that were promised by the UFCW. “We estimate that less than 50 associates(the term Walmart uses for employees) participated in the protest nationwide. In fact, this year, roughly the same number of associates missed their scheduled shift as last year,” Simon said. Indeed, according to Reuters, only 1 person walked out of among the 500 employees at a Walmart in Chicago’s South Side. There are reportedly 1.3 million Walmart employees nationwide.
It appears to be in the main a “carpetbagger protest”. Many of the “protesters” appeared to be people bused in and not actual employees. Reuters referenced 4 busloads of people being bused in to the Southside location where there was only the one employee protesting . Here is a picture of Occupy Wall Street members being bused into a protest in New Jersey and outside in front of a Walmart:
Self described “Revolutionary Marxist” Caleb Maupin at Secaucus Walmart protest. Credit Getty Images.
Occupy has started wepay donation pages to donate for “Walmart strike organizers” and “Walmart strikers”, including asking for donations to pay for their food and feminine hygeine products.
In the face of the “protests”, Walmart reports that it had its best Black Friday ever. Those employees that worked Black Friday got an additional 10% of on an entire basket of goods and were rewarded with holiday pay.
Update:
Between the two donation pages, Occupy has accumulated a tidy sum for “Walmart strikers” and “strike organizers”, allegedly over $18,000. One wonders who this money will actually be going to, since it seems that Occupiers are the “strikers” and “organizers”.
OWS doctor arrested with bomb making chemicals and stash of weapons
Occupy Wall Street protester Roberto Rivera. Credit: Amy Arbus for Bloomberg
Police have arrested a 60 year old unemployed doctor, Roberto Rivera, after finding a large quantity of chemicals used in bomb making after they conducted a raid on his home in Ridgewood, New Jersey. The search of Rivera’s home on Friday night also revealed a number of assault rifles and other weapons
Rivera was charged with second degree recklessly creating a risk of widespread injury or damage; fourth degree failure to mitigate against recklessly creating a risk of widespread injury or damage; third degree unlawful possession of a destructive device; fourth degree unlawful possession of a stun gun; fourth degree unlawful possession of a large capacity ammunition magazine; and second degree unlawful possession of an assault firearm. His bail has been set at $1 million dollars.
Ridgewood police had initially responded to the home after receiving a report that potentially hazardous materials might be at the residence. The Bergen County Prosecutor, John Molinelli, called at least one of the chemicals “highly volatile,” but authorities did not disclose the names of the chemicals found in the house.
Bergen County Hazmat and the FBI were involved in the search of the house. Saturday afternoon FBI Special Agent Barbara Woodruff said it was an ongoing investigation but ”the scene is definitely secured so there’s no reason for concern”. Agencies investigating include the Ridgewood Police Department; Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office; Bergen County Police Department Bomb Squad; FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force; and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Prosecutors say Rivera is unemployed but has a license to practice medicine in New York.
Rivera was an active member of Occupy Wall Street. He was quoted in Bloomberg News in October of last year, commenting on the movement:
“I’m glad that at last the youth of America is able to stand on two feet and take a position that millions of people around the world have taken that they will not be intimidated by the capitalist free market paradigm and they will fight against gross inequality in distribution of income and assets.”
Rivera was also described in November 2011 in the Tribeca Tribune working as a “volunteer medic” helping with several overdose victims in Zuccotti Park, while wearing a black t-shirt with a red cross taped to his arm and the words “Stop bitching and start a revolution” emblazoned across the front.
Police searching the Rivera home. Credit Boyd Loving.
Bret Baier reports OWS rants about benefits of Hurricane Sandy, “Anonymous” twitter accounts then threaten him
Yesterday FNC’s Bret Baier on Grapevine reported on the comments by @OccupyWallStreet ‘s official twitter account in response to Hurricane Sandy. See his report here. This earned him some unfavorable attention from twitter accounts associated with Anonymous (one of the founding parts of Occupy). They “doxed” Baier (got his personal information including his home address and phone) and said “anything goes” against him.
On Tuesday, the day after the hurricane started, the OWS account started with a rant against capitalism:
Capitalism is the astounding belief that the wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things 4 the greatest good of all. #election2012
—
Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) October 30, 2012Then followed up immediately thereafter with the specific “benefits” of Sandy:
That community you're experiencing, in the face of crisis? It's always there. Think about what it is that usually obscures it. #sandy #nyc
—
Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) October 30, 2012What obscures “community”? Why, Capitalism, of course.
They then advised people to go outside on Tuesday (while many wires and trees were still down and dangerous, most without power, many still under water ).
Go outside. Meet your neighbors. Talk. Share a meal. When capitalism retreats, our communities flourish. #sandy #nyc
—
Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) October 30, 2012No subways. No electricity. No chains. #capitalism #sandy #nyc
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Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) October 30, 2012As capitalism halts, we experience "an exceptional period of mutual support and common care." ow.ly/eSX4t #sandy #nyc @StrikeDebt
—
Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) October 30, 2012In the above tweet, they link to an article on another Occupy site that refers to Sandy as the “People’s Hurricane” and a “Climate Strike” (arguing Sandy is due to Climate change that evil Wall St loosed on itself).
In response, the OWS account was widely castigated by the Twitterverse. Jaceyla Jones was perhaps one of the best, reminding them that people had died.
@OccupyWallSt, There's another, better worded truism for your rambling masquerading as 'wisdom': Misery loves company. People are DEAD, FGS!
—
Jacelya Jones (@JacelyaJones) October 30, 2012After being roundly criticized, suddenly the OWS account seemed taken over by notices of how one could volunteer to help out Sandy victims, and posting on Occupy “volunteer efforts”. Still, they revealed it was all about the politics, noting:
Insurance is the capitalist answer to what should be an effort of mutual aid from the community. #sandy
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Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) October 30, 2012They then started praising themselves for their “rapid response” to Sandy, and attacked the Tea Party and government response.
#OWS rapid response to #Sandy shows importance of building networks for mutual support. When government falls short, people stand tall.
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Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) October 31, 2012MT @tylerevansokay: So, #ows is helping w/cleanup & aiding #Sandy victims, where are the groups the media legitimized? Tea party? Nowhere?
—
Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallSt) October 30, 2012When the FNC report by Baier then dared report some of the above tweets, this Anonymous account first called him a liar, saying that Occupy was helping victims.
FOX News: "@OccupyWallSt is happy about the damage" foxnews.com/on-air/special… #OWS is aiding victims. How do you sleep at night? @BretBaier #Liar
—
Anonymous (@DBCOOPA) November 01, 2012Thereafter the following tweets recorded the effort to “dox” Baier and discussed what should be done to him. Click to enlarge:
This was then followed up with a post with his “dox” including phone numbers, home address, age and birthday. Citizen Journalist will not be linking to that dox page.
Here is a copy of the page with relevant info excised.
Anonymous@DBCOOPA has since scrubbed the first tweet about “ruining Baier’s life”.
HT @RichardRSmithJr for screenshot
Occupy “Illuminator” van is repossessed by Ben of “Ben and Jerry’s”
Occupy just had their “Illuminator” van repossessed by Ben Cohen of “Ben and Jerry’s” fame.
A year ago, Ben and Jerry’s formed a group, the “Movement Resource Group”, designed to help underwrite Occupy projects of which the group approved. Ben Cohen was an instrumental part of leading the group.
One project to come out of the relationship with Occupy was “The Illuminator”. In a February meeting, Mark Read, an adjunct professor of media studies at NYU, was discussing the idea of putting a projector on a movable van to help illuminate Occupy messages on buildings at various actions. Ben Cohen, who led the MRG, agreed to fund the idea and came to an agreement with the Occupiers.
The agreement discussed the Illuminator and another vehicle which was later abandoned. Cohen agreed to contribute as much as $65,000 toward the development of the cars. This included paying Read $250 per day to launch the operation. The vehicles would be owned by MRG.
According to DNA Info, a separate document which set forth goals for the Illuminator, stated that the purpose was
to “put a friendly non threatening face” on the Occupy movement and “generate good will” with the public by slowly cruising the city, projecting the “99%” signal, playing “family friendly music,” and stopping occasionally to serve hot chocolate and pass out Occupy-themed comic books.
After the Illuminator started in March, problems quickly developed. Read and a team of volunteers were running it three times a week. Cohen expected that they would do it 5-6 days a week, for six hours a day, as was set forth in the agreement.
Read and the crew of volunteers that were involved came to feel that this was unfair, despite the fact that they had agreed to it. According to them, Cohen wanted more control over use of the van and wanted it to be focused on being a “mobile billboard for Occupy”, whereas the Illuminator team felt it should be used for any progressive cause. They had even used it in a fight over expansion at NYU.
According to DNA Info:
After a “full-out custody battle” in May, the two sides agreed to share the van until the end of September, after which Cohen and the Movement Resource Group would gain full control of it, Read said. “To a person, I think we all feel kind of betrayed and disappointed,” he said. “He didn’t want to have to bother with the messy part of being in a democracy”. ”He’s a 1 percenter,” Read, 46, added, “telling the 99 percent, ‘I’m your boss.’”
The Illuminator team released a statement, thanking him for his support, but expressing their disappointment. They also stated that they will continue with the idea of using illumination, but seek more “crowd funding” to support their endeavors in the future.
Oops, at least one Occupier DID meet with Ahmadinejad.
Citizen Journalist ran a piece three days ago on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad allegedly planning a meeting with Occupy members during the time he is in NYC to speak at the United Nations.
The announcement, which was met by revulsion, even from some supporters of OWS, pushed some in OWS to take to the media to denounce it. ”Nobody in their right mind would meet with a fascist dictator like Ahmadenijad,” said Shawn Carrié, a longtime Occupy activist, in a direct message to Rosie Gray at Buzz Feed.
I was working with the group CODEPINK several years ago when Ahmadinejad came to [New York] and held a meeting to discuss global issues. I imagine this is the same. We have no idea who is organizing the meeting and how they came up with this story.
I’ve been trying to reach someone from Fars to ask them who they are talking about. Anyone going is doing so as an individual,” Balicki said. “There is no organized effort on behalf of OWS to meet with Ahmadinejad. This smells like a propaganda effort to me.
Except now we know at least one of the people that actually met with him was in fact an Occupier from Occupy DC, again according to Fars. Occupier Leah Bolger is also president of Veterans for Peace, one of the groups in the left anti-war coalition which also includes Code Pink. When queried for confirmation of the meeting, Ms. Bolger failed to respond.
Here is Leah with Occupy DC on Day 4 of their occupation
Fars printed a long statement from Ms. Bolger, speaking on behalf of Veterans for Peace, which basically translates to Israel and US want war, Iran is just an innocent. Of course, meeting with these people only serves Ahmadinejad. It is too bad they fail to realize they are just propaganda bait.
Apparently Mr. Carrié will have to have a conversation with Leah Bolger about the state of her mind.
Update:
Mr. Carrie may have to wait before talking with Leah Bolger. She is off to Pakistan with others of Veterans for Peace and Code Pink to protest drones. If one protests US use of drones, the logical place to protest would be here, as both groups have done. There is no reason to go to Pakistan other than being a propaganda puppet.
Welcome to our site, Iranian state media- “Press TV”
Please steal this picture, Press TV. Credit NYDN.
Except that in response, Dana Balicki then notes that she, as part of Code Pink (which is one of the groups involved with Occupy), did meet with Ahmadinejad ‘several years ago” (actually 2008).
“I was working with the group CODEPINK several years ago when Ahmadinejad came to [New York] and held a meeting to discuss global issues. I imagine this is the same. We have no idea who is organizing the meeting and how they came up with this story.”
“I’ve been trying to reach someone from Fars to ask them who they are talking about. Anyone going is doing so as an individual,” Balicki said. “There is no organized effort on behalf of OWS to meet with Ahmadinejad. This smells like a propaganda effort to me.”
As we noted in our prior report, Occupy members, most notably, Imam Musa, went to Iran for an Occupy conference over the winter.
They have also had a cosy relationship with Press TV, Iranian government TV, which has promoted them in its media. Press TV is state run, by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). Its headquarters are located in Tehran, Iran.
Yesterday, Press TV ran an interesting report talking about the alleged visit and alleged meeting with Ahmadinejad. We wouldn’t be linking to it, because we don’t like to link to propaganda, so if you’d like to see it, be our guest, we will quote the relevant parts.
They noted:
Analysts see Iran as “just one example of the connection between OWS movement and the Middle East, which is based on a common enemy, the governments of the United States and Israel”.
This quoted part was taken straight out of our prior article, of course, excerpted and used for their own purposes.
Press TV then goes on:
Occupy protesters stormed an Israeli consulate in Boston on November 2011, waving Palestinian flags and shouting “Long Live the Intifadah!” and “not another nickel, not another dime! No more money for Israel’s crimes”.
Taken from our story, but adding the line “No more money for Israel’s crimes” (which Occupiers did in fact chant).
More:
Participants made clear that they are not anti-Semites, but anti-Zionists, critical of the Israeli government’s current policies.
Well, now, no they didn’t. They never said any such thing. so we’re curious as to how Press TV came to this conclusion. But it makes them sound nicer, so I guess rewriting truth is Press TV’s inclination.
But it’s nice to know that Ahmadinejad can have “journalist” propagandists to help his agenda.
Press TV’s report was then picked up by another propaganda arm, RT (Russia Today) the Kremlin run media outfit. They ran the following, in pertinent part:
Iran’s Press-TV have also picked up the story and quotes unnamed analysts who say Iran is “just one example of the connection between OWS movement and the Middle East, which is based on a common enemy, the governments of the United States and Israel.”
We want to welcome Press TV to our readership. But when you steal our stuff, try to get it right. You may actually learn something.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to meet with Occupy Wall Street in NYC (Updated with OWS response)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be in New York City to address the General Assembly of the United Nations on September 25. He has regularly addressed the General Assembly once a year for the last seven years. He represents the 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) as its rotating President. His purpose in addition to the speech is to focus on “connecting to mainstream Americans including those who are part of the Occupy Wall Street movement”, according to The Hindu, quoting Fars, the Iran News Agency. He plans on meeting with members of OWS as well as other “students, artists and intellectuals”. He also plans on reaching out to the public through interviews with CBS, CNN and Russia Today (RT). The delegation, guarded by 150 security personnel, will stay in Manhattan’s Warwick hotel, Fars News Agency is reporting.
Iran is just one example of the connection between Occupy/Anonymous and the Middle East, the confluence of some of the left in the US and the Muslim world, a connection which is based on a common enemy, the governments of the United States and Israel. Many elements in Occupy are anti Israel, pro Palestinian for example, like Code Pink. Occupy actually invaded the Israeli consulate in Boston in November 2011, waving Palestinian flags and shouting “Long Live the Intifadah!” The narrator in the video is Occupy and Code Pink member Dennis Trainor, who is also the VP of the Communication Workers of America (CWA) one of the biggest unions in the country.
More on the relationship between Occupy and Israel here.
Iranian government TV, Press TV, has long promoted Occupy in its media as an indication of the general public rising up against the evil US government. In February, there was an Occupy conference held in Iran which Occupy representatives from the United States attended. Attendees included college professors and an Imam from Washington DC. This support was interesting, given the support Occupy and Anonymous lent to the Green Movement, protesting the government in Iran and the election of Ahmadinejad. But Occupy still serves the purpose, in Iran’s mind, of being disruptive to the US governmental entities.
Here is one video from that event:
Since then however, Occupy has lost steam and media, and Press TV, realizing Occupy doesn’t have the numbers or the effectiveness it was hoping for, hasn’t pumped it as much.
Ahmadinejad’s visit also comes at a time when hackers, alleged to be connected with Iran, have been cyber attacking the Bank of America, Chase and the NYSE this week as revenge against the US for sanctions, using the anti-Islam video as a cover. According to some sources, these attacks have been happening since 2011. Those with Occupy/Anonymous connections also appear involved in the recent attacks on the financial organizations.
Update:
OWS is now backing off this claim of a meeting. Buzz Feed, in an article by Rosie Gray, who has covered OWS at some length, ran the following statement from one of its members.
“Nobody in their right mind would meet with a fascist dictator like Ahmadenijad,” said Shawn Carrié, a longtime Occupy activist, in a direct message. “I think it’s been blown way out of proportion. There were some emails floating around on listservs about going to *protest* his appearance.”
“Anyway, it must be stressed that no one speaks for OWS,” Carrié said. “Any moron can go say they’re gonna go do something, but to say OWS meets with Ahmadinejad? That’s just ridiculous.”
Well, then he needs to take that up with the Iranian government, since this is part of their official press release of the trip. According to Fars,
Ahmadinejad is also set to meet American university students, artists, intellectuals and elites, including Occupy Wall Street anti-capitalist protestors, despite the ongoing efforts made by the pro-Zionist lobbies to prevent direct link between American people and the Iranian president.
No one speaks for OWS (except apparently Mr. Carrié). The problem with his response is that it doesn’t appear to explain the cosy position that Occupy has had with the Iranian govt news agency, Press TV, or any of the other information we noted above. Moreover, his response is interesting in that everyone in OWS can disclaim any action by another as saying “it’s not an officially approved action” as we have seen in multiple OWS cases, despite the fact of Occupy involvement.
For example, the San Francisco Mission district violence of two nights ago. Organized by Occupiers, sent out over Occupy hashtags, Occupiers participating, on Occupy livestream. But because it might have blow back, “not an Occupy event”.
We shall wait to hear more, and continue to investigate if anyone meets with him or they have backed off.
OWS: “We are the proletariat!”
Here is more video from the #S17 protest on the anniversary of the start of Occupy Wall St a year ago September 17.
This group of marchers was made up of mostly Hispanic self-identified Maoists. One was was wearing a pro-Palestinian scarf with little Che buttons on it. He noted that most of the pro-Palestinian people with whom he was familiar were also pro-communist.
Although it is not always reported on, many in Occupy are pro-Palestinian, anti-US involvement in the Middle East.
As they chanted, they seemed oblivious to the concept that most Americans would have no idea what they were talking about, and would in fact step back from such classist terminology. It is not clear that these people, at best in their twenties, really understood what happened the last time marching groups waved around that little red book, the flags and millions died.
Video by Billy O’Keefe @DefendWallSt
The continuing saga of Occupy’s Nkrumah Tinsley
In the following video, shot at the RNC, you can see Occupiers assailing delegates who are walking by, slinging verbal insults at them and giving them the finger.
There is also the following exchange ~:44.
One occupier screams, “We are the coming insurrection,” as he bounces up and down.
“Prepare for the civil war, jacka**es,” screams another who was seen giving obscene gestures earlier in the video.
“I’ll be going in your houses,” he adds. Then having a moment of recognition that what he said might be a problem, he turns to the cameraman and says, “Don’t put that on camera”.
Followers may recognize the person threatening civil war and “going in your houses”. It is Nkrumah Tinsley, also known as “Joseph”, who was arrested for threatening to “burn NYC to the m–f–in’ ground” in November. He also was reportedly arrested in October 2011 for assault on a police officer. See more here. At last report, the terrroristic threat case was still open against Tinsley, pending a psychiatric review.
Tinsley was at the NATO protests in May and at both the RNC and DNC protests. He was at the anniversary celebration yesterday.
One wonders how he continues to be able to get to all these protests, how he continues to make threats and if the NYPD are aware of his actions elsewhere.
Pictures of OWS Anniversary
Birthday cake.
- Pro Palestinian Marxist
Credit @blulaces
- Credit @DefendWallSt
Tourists checking out the spectacle.
- Om circle at Zuccotti
Credit @heatherb
- Baby in Che shirt
- Credit @DefendWallSt
Unoccupy Palestine
Anarchy clowns
Bain Capital Monster
Occupier arrested in rape, attempted murder of fellow Occupier, also charged in rape of 14 year old girl
Occupier Jackie Barcliff, 44, was arrested Friday, after turning himself in, after being sought in a brutal rape this past week.
The 56-year-old female victim was forced to go with her attacker to a section of the Pier 15 park overlooking the East River, raped and then thrown over a 20 foot high second-story railing. She suffered a broken pelvis and other serious injuries. She was found about 2 a.m. Monday morning. Her pants and underwear had been removed,
Platform from which the woman was thrown to the concrete below
After he turned himself in, Barcliff was also charged with raping a 14 year old girl on August 12 after offering her a place to stay for the night. He now faces two charges of first degree rape and an attempted murder charge.
According to ABC local news, an Occupy press spokesperson says it’s a terrible incident that should be investigated thoroughly and handled fairly.
According to a lengthy police statement, quoted in the Village Voice, Barcliff, who has been a regular fixture at OWS protests, was previously arrested in December 2011 at Zuccotti Park for assault, resisting arrest and trying to escape. He got sentenced to 200 days in jail, a district attorney spokesperson said. Barcliff was held on Rikers Island four times over the past two years, including 120 days on the resisting arrest conviction starting on Feb. 24. He was released on June 25.
In the following video, taken in November 2011, you can see Barcliff around 2:30 engaging and goading police, ultimately getting arrested at around10:30. Occupiers shout “Shame, Shame” at police for arresting him. One protester yells, “This isn’t Hitler, this isn’t Germany.” Then, people start yelling, “The whole world is watching.”
Occupy Summer Disobedience School
At the beginning of the summer, OWS began the “Summer Disobedience School” which was supposed to be a 12 week series of classes, culminating on September 17, or “graduation day”, the one year anniversary of the start of OWS.
What was the purpose of this “school”? They’ve stopped trying to hide the anti-capitalist nature of what they are about. In their video description, they cite the aim:
What is capitalism? Where is capitalism? Who and what sustains it? How can we starve its roots, which feed off our relations to one another to the detriment of humanity? What alternatives can we create together? These are a few of the questions we will explore in OWS Summer Disobedience School (OWSDS), a twelve-week training program that will empower us to map, target, and disrupt sites of capitalist injustice across the city with a wide range of creative tactics accessible to people will all levels of experience.
They’re desperate for numbers so part of the process requires that occupiers can help indoctrinate others. Can we say cult, people?
A key priority in the OWSDS curriculum is the empowerment of new people to step up in planning and executing actions; to this end, OWSDS will involve a mentoring system in which those with more experience can “buddy up” with less experienced individuals to lend moral support and technical guidance. This “training of trainers” process can in turn be replicated and innovated by increasing numbers of people across time and space. Students will be encouraged to develop personal escalation calendars to track their own progress over the course of Summer School in advance of Graduation Day: September 17th, the one-year anniversary of OWS.
They have so few folks left that on September 17, they are asking that everyone come to NYC from across the country to buttress the numbers there, for three days of talks, lectures and direct actions.
So now here is their discussion/ad about the Summer Disobedience School and what they plan for September 17. And yes, that’s really them, and they really did this.
Occupy “Summer School” Fail
Occupy Wall Street has been working with students at Paul Robeson High School in Brooklyn, NY, for months. This effort to reach out to students was mostly through Justin Wedes, a disgraced former teacher, who resigned for his teaching position in the wake of a grant money scandal. During this time, some of the students were encouraged to walk out on classes to be involved with May Day protests and to protest against various issues at the school. Wedes finally managed to do enough to irritate the principal of the school who apparently asked him to leave the property at one point.
Wedes then came up with the concept of a “summer school”, the “Paul Robeson Freedom School”, not on the Paul Robeson property, but at St John the Evangelist Lutheran School on Maujer Street in Brooklyn. The “school” is open to 10-14 year olds from Brooklyn, according to Wedes, who noted they will focus lessons on discussing the civil rights movement, feminism, LGBTQ rights, universal healthcare and other topics of “social justice”, as well as providing tutoring, lessons in urban gardening and local food, and weekly family nights.
Excerpted from LadyLiberty1885 are snippets from NY TIMES story on the subject, emphasis from LadyLiberty:
*SNIP*
LAST week, on a gloriously breezy Brooklyn evening, Justin Wedes and Rodney Deas, two original members of the Occupy Wall Street movement, were cooking burgers on a charcoal grill in the courtyard of their latest project — an unsanctioned, unofficial Occupy Wall Street summer camp.
The camp, which runs through Aug. 24 at a redbrick former schoolhouse on Maujer Street in Williamsburg, was only three days old, and fellow Occupiers, swept up in the pioneering spirit, had been coming by in droves to lend a hand. A few guys from Occupy Tech Ops had spent the afternoon tweaking the old computers and hooking up the Ethernet connection, and an Occupy artist had silk-screened 20 T-shirts (with a book-and-raised-fist logo) to serve as camp uniforms. Occupy librarians were finishing the reading room, and some Occupy farmers were discussing how to bring in provisions. A tattooed video jockey from Occupy TV was milling about, recording it all on a Sony hand-held camera.
The only thing missing at that point were the campers. By Wednesday, there were three.
“The joke is we’ve been getting one a day,” said Mr. Wedes, who is 26 and a veteran of the food committee at Zuccotti Park. “I figure, at this rate, in another couple weeks we’ll actually have a camp.”
You could blame the slow start on any number of issues: a nonexistent advertising budget (zero dollars out of a $300 operating account); a lack of sufficiently radical activities (no shoot-the-banker archery, say, or color war with flexi-cuffs); or a cultural predilection for horizontal planning.(How fast would a top-down Tea Party camp be up and running?)
Mr. Wedes (pronounced WEE-dis) said the delay was merely a function of grass-roots community work. “We’re starting here from nothing,” he said, “and building up. It’s a process.”
*SNIP*
I know, every line is like some kind of love letter to Occupy. What parent in their right mind would let their kids near one of these events much less a ‘ Summer camp’? Let’s ignore that kids have been left alone with rats, abandoned, flashed, intimidated, arrestedand used as human shields by Occupiers. Are people who incite riots, destroy public property, rack up 41 million in damages nationwide and who can’t seem to pick a single focus topic to protest about on any given day really who you want your kids around? Uh, that’s a HELL NO.
Read more here.
Occupiers participate in Obama “get out the vote” event
According to Occupiers, Occupy allegedly doesn’t support any political parties.
Yet what were those crazy Occupy kids doing at a “get out the vote for Obama” event in Brooklyn, N.Y.?
Local sources familiar with occupy participants recognized them.
Picture inside the event:
Picture of two of those crazy kids leaving the event, one wearing a tell tale “99 %” shirt.
Occupy National Gathering draws small numbers; march to NYC already in trouble
Sign at national gathering
Occupy held a 5 day national gathering in Philadelphia over the holiday that was supposed to bring people from all over the country.
Approximately 200 people showed up, far less than the 1500 police were anticipating, indicating the moribund nature of Occupy. Those that attended held teach ins, workshops and meetings on visioning. At the end, they put out a “Declaration of Interdependence” .
The visit was mostly peaceful except for the 40 people arrested for various offenses.
At the end of the event, a march was organized to walk from the Liberty Bell to Wall Street. About 45 people allegedly signed up for the walk. According to the march organizer, Daphne Carr, 100 people started out on the march this morning. Many started with nothing more than a water bottle, not seeming concerned about provisioning for the trip.
Carr said that that there would be three meals a day and plenty of water, plus precautionary measures to handle the heat. An air-conditioned van is riding alongside the chain of walkers, five medics are traveling with them, and they plan to stop for a rest for ten minutes out of every hour.
Yet by this evening, Occupy was already tweeting asking for food, and ideas to help with provisioning.
Occupiers being occupied
Occupy Wall St has a pledge page where people are encouraged to “fight back” and have a choice to pledge to do one of a number of things. Choices include starting an occupation, organize their workplace, got to a meeting, show up for an action. You get the idea.
Someone apparently tried to troll the OccupyWallSt.org site yesterday.
Occupy Wall Street has a national gathering that they are planning in Philadelphia this week. It is planned as a 5 day sleep in.
July 4th weekend is a very busy time in Philadelphia and the city will be prepared for a mass convergence on their amenities. Our “People’s Map” will direct people to restrooms, encampments, and banks for #banksleep.
For the occasion, they have a twitter hashtag, #natgat. Today, conservatives and others appear to have hijacked the hashtag and are having lots of fun posting.
A selection of the tweets can be seen at Twitchy here.
Samples:
TwitchyTeamHey, the Occupy National Gathering has a hashtag: #NatGat. Be a shame if something happened to it. 
-jt
Developing: Occupiers upset at conservatives taking over #NatGat, a hashtag dedicated to Occupiers…who take over things that aren’t theirs
OccupyNG-Safety@OccupyNGSafety
Any hijacking of the #natgat thread by conservatives from “Team Twitchy” (?????) will *NOT* be tolerated #OWS #occupywallstreet
You are so precious! Just want to hug you…but no
#BecauseScabies MT@OccupyNGSafety The conservative hijackers will be DEFEATED! #natgat
Defend Wall Street@DefendWallSt
#natgat WHOSE HASHTAG?! OUR HASHTAG
It appears that @OccupyNGSafety has surrendered to #TeamTwitchy:twitter.com/OccupyNGSafety… #NatGat #Cowards
Heh Occupiers – there are better discussions at the @jessehadden livestream. No conservative hijackers there. #natgat #ows
Will Antonin@Will_Antonin
Stoo@stoo11Charles Barron trounced in NYC Democratic Congressional primary, demands recount
Charles Barron isn’t taking the loss well.
He lost badly to Hakeem Jeffries in the 8th district Congressional Democratic primary race, which is primarily Brooklyn. Jeffries, who was endorsed by party leaders, got 71.9 percent of the vote. Barron, endorsed by the unions and outgoing Congress member Ed Towns, received 28.1 percent of the vote, which translated to about 10,000 votes.
In part, the election was a bit of a test of the strength of the unions, the local union DC-37 and parent AFSCME, who objected to Jeffries’s pro-charter-school stand.
But also included in the mix was Barron’s long history of making incendiary remarks, everything from calling Thomas Jefferson a pedophile to making remarks about Jews and gay people, as well as supporting dictators. He has spoken of wanting revolution and fighting capitalism, noting that he does not want Obama to do anything to fix the economy, since that would only prolong capitalism. He has called Israel a “terrorist state”, and been endorsed by David Duke. He supported OWS including an action to take a man’s home, that was characterized as “taking a home back from the banks”.
See more background here.
His severe loss did nothing to gag his venom. He denounced the media as “really lowlife scum” and he refused to concede defeat.
“At the risk of sounding like a sore loser, honesty compels me to say there will be no congratulatory statement to the opposition tonight, only because of the way the campaign was run,” Barron was quoted as saying by the New York Daily News.
“We had them scared from the very beginning,” Barron claimed. “There’s something bigger than politics and that’s a movement. A movement of the people. We have that here tonight. When we launched this campaign, we knew we were going up against…the entire New York Democratic political leadership.”
While Jeffries espouses support such things as charter schools, he also had the support of the Working Families Party(rebranded ACORN).
Congressional candidate Charles Barron praises wealth redistribution, revolution, attacks Thomas Jefferson, claims “MLK was Democratic Socialist”
Charles Barron, current New York City Council member, is running for Congress from NY. He is running against Hakeem Jeffries in the Democratic primary. Since NYC is so heavily democratic, it is likely that the primary will decide the ultimate winner. Barron already has received support from many unions.
A lot has been written about Barron. A lot of reasons to not want to vote for this man- supporter of dictators(like Robert Mugabe and Hugo Chavez), anti Israel, anti semitic according to pantheon of NYC Democrats who have come out against him, anti capitalist, pro socialist, former Black Panther, pro OWS, etc. Perhaps most of all, not really changing the blight that has had such an effect on his district where he has been city council member since 2001.
Here are a few more reasons:
In this video from 2009, Barron praises MLK as being for “equitable redistribution of wealth”, saying “Dr. King wasn’t just a dreamer, he was a radical, a Democratic Socialist”.
He then goes on to say “we need to get revolutionaries in office, we need to get radicals in office” and talks about the group he belongs to- Operation Power- which is working on that.
The video is uploaded by a socialist organization, Cleveland FIST, and that man introducing Barron in the beginning is Larry Holmes, current first secretary of the Worker’s World Party(communist organization). See more about Larry, his view of the Occupy movement, and recruiting for communism here.
This next video, from a radical conference, Barron talks about how radicals must gain/seize power through the “tactic” of electoral politics to deal with the evils of capitalism. At around 11:56, he talks about how he refuses to pledge allegiance to the flag at city council meetings, because “I cannot pledge to a lie”, calls Thomas Jefferson “a slave holding pedophile”, repeats what he said previously- “I want to slap the first white man I meet for my black mental health” at a reparations rally, at ~38:54 “we should nationalize Con Ed and automobile industry”, “revolution can and will happen in America, capitalism is a failure, it never has worked, can’t work, wouldn’t work and I want to see it in my lifetime”. “If Barack Obama is successful in stabilizing this economy, we are in trouble. Because successful means he’ll be patching up capitalism, trying to fix it.” He says until we are post racism and post capitalism, we should not stop fighting capitalism.
Barron with his support of radicals and redistribution sounds a bit like our friends in Occupy. And it is no coincidence that he has been a supporter. As council member from East New York, he came out in December to support Occupy’s seizure of a foreclosed home in his neighborhood. With huge fan fare, Occupy and Barron announced they were installing a “homeless family” into the house, taking it back from the banks.
Except it was all a lie and Charles Barron knew it.
The house was not foreclosed, it was still owned by single dad Wise Ahadzi who was in negotiations with his bank to try to hold onto the house. See more on the story here. OWS tried to put Ahadzi off, saying we will help you but they never did. Ahadzi said Barron was aware of this, yet went along with this charade on the media.
After all the fanfare, the lie began to unravel. OWS never moved the “homeless family” in, but rather had OWS squatters living in the house. Those squatters basically gutted and destroyed the inside of the house. When this hit the NY Post, OWS had a strategy meeting about what to do approach the PR fallout. The meeting included OWS members who were part of New York Communities for Change and the Working Families Party(both ACORN derivatives) and they talked about how to mitigate the fall out, including getting the “homeless father”, OWS member, into the home. After it became a political hot potato, Barron then turned on OWS, throwing them under the bus in the Post. He talked about how they came from “outside the neighborhood” and the squatters weren’t wanted. He apparently hoped that people forgot his support and knowledge from just a couple of months before.
Apparently Wise Ahadzi wasn’t important enough for OWS or Barron to help. It was okay to “redistribute” his wealth. Now he is left with a destroyed home. Thank you, OWS and Charles Barron.
Single dad Wise Ahadzi with his two daughters.
Bill Maher: OWS, stop camping, get involved in political process, we need you to be our Tea Party
Some on the left are finally getting around to picking over the corpse of the Occupy movement and asking what went wrong.
Last night, Bill Maher chastised OWS to stop camping and start participating in the political process.
Mediaite picks up on Maher’s comment and asks, ”Whatever happened to Occupy Wall Street? It was a big thing last year, it was going to be the left’s answer to the Tea Party, now no one really knows where it’s going.”
Mediaite notes:
Maher mocked the movement for its many grandiose ideas and lack of realism, and while he admitted he enjoyed going out to Occupy DC last year, “having a sleepover in the park for four months didn’t cause Wall Street to crumble.” He acknowledged Occupy has “the right message,” but its execution and public awareness campaign are not exactly the sort to make substantive change.
Occupy’s big event this summer is on July 4th, and according to Maher, their goal is “to facilitate a visioning process designed to allow all voices to be heard while allowing repeat visions to organically rise to the top.” And while “visioning process” makes me think of kaleidoscopes, it’s apparently what they’re planning on doing next month. And the next day, Occupy is hosting a “guitarmy.” Yes, a “guitarmy.”
Maher grudgingly compliments the Tea Party- recognizing that they moblized, they got involved in the political process and now have candidates in Congress to follow up on their agenda. He said, “We need Occupy to be our Tea Party-an unwavering block that will force things to the left as relentlessly as a new pair of jeans with a tight inseam”.
Maher, Mediaite and others, of course, miss the point when they express their desire to turn Occupy into the Tea Party. They’ve been taking this tack since Occupy appeared.
But Occupy doesn’t want to be the Tea Party of the left. It doesn’t want to be a part of the political process. It wants to bring that process down. Maher mocks the Occupy motto, “The only solution is world revolution”, but that is what they desire.
Additionally, any numbers that Occupy may have had have precipitously declined exactly because of that intractable stance. So there isn’t much of an “army” left.
So Maher ends up talking to the wind.
Chicago Tribune files complaint against “Occupied Chicago Tribune”
The Chicago Tribune has filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization against the “Occupied Chicago Tribune” for infringing upon its trademark. Occupy uses their name, “Chicago Tribune” as well as a similar logo and lettering. Occupied Chicago Tribune has published two print editions and have a website with news updates.
Occupy was asked by the Tribune to stop using their name. ”We reached out to them, we expressed our concerns, and they agreed to re-brand their product,” Karen Flax, assistant general counsel for the Tribune, said.
Despite what they said, the Occupied Chicago Tribune has not changed their publications and continue to use the Tribune’s name and brand.
The Occupied Chicago Tribune is not the only Occupy publication using names and brands; there is also an Occupied Wall Street Journal, Occupied Oakland Tribune and Occupied Washington Times.
Occupy Black Bloc violence against SF Mission District and police
This is incredible video of the craziness of an Occupy Black Bloc action on April 30, 2012 in the Mission District in San Francisco. It was made by anarchists, and meant to be an inducement for others to join.
Citizen Journalist previously posted about this incident here with a video taken surreptiously from the middle of the black bloc. This video however is much clearer. This action grew out of an Occupy event at a local park. The event was called a “ruckus party” to protest “gentrification” in the neighborhood. At various points you can hear “all cops are bastards, ACAB”, “a anti anti capitalista”, “No more pigs in our community-Off the pigs!”, “The system has got to die, Hella, Hella, Occupy!” “Occupy will not be stopped, especially by some fucking cop”. ”The revolution has come!”
Black bloc is a tactic, it is not a group. Occupiers have used the black bloc tactic (dressing in black to make it harder to id them) in many cities. It was used prior to Occupy and since by other anarchists.
Many Occupiers claimed that they were not involved, that this was “infiltrators”. But tweets on the evening show the presence of regular occupiers. There were some who were not approving. There were others, like the man you see on the video, who thought destruction was ok, as long as it was only “specific people”, i.e. the rich.
This violence included attacking a police station, local small businesses, cars(including a beat up van) and homes. Yes, homes as well. One infamous tweet from the night noted rocks being thrown through someone’s window and children crying in response. They attack a police car at ~ 1:30 and try to set it on fire.
We noted how Sparrow Media, who does media for Occupy, celebrated the attack on the police station calling it “glorious destruction”
OWSer missed court appearance for terroristic threat, because of protesting
Back in November, Nkrumah Tinsley, 29, got arrested for threatening to burn NYC to the ground in the first minute of this youtube:
He says “on the 17th, we’re going to burn New York City to the motherf*#king ground”. Shortly thereafter he goes on to say “No more talking. They’ve got guns, we’ve got bottles. They’ve got bricks, we’ve got rocks…in a few days you’re going to see what a Molotov cocktail can do to Macy’s.”
Ed Needham, a spokesman for Occupy, said “We wouldn’t have anything to do with this guy. Certainly everything we do is centered around us being a peaceful and nonviolent movment”. But despite this statement, OWS coughed up $7,500 for his bail. He was out a week later, right back to protesting. Needham said there was no way to ban him from the protests.
This seemed a rather odd statement as OWS has in fact banned people from meetings, people who they claimed were disruptive, but happened to be raising questions about OWS finances.
Now Tinsley is in the news again for missing a scheduled court appearance yesterday. A Manhattan judge issued an arrest warrant for him but he showed up after court closed for the day.
According to his lawyer, he didn’t show up on time because he was late coming home on a bus from Chicago where he had been for the NATO protest.
The judge ordered a psych evaluation for the defendant, warned him about being late but didn’t put him back in jail or raise his bail. His attorney apologized to the court on his behalf.
Tinsley is charged with felony terroristic threat, and with a prior OWS felony for allegedly socking a cop.
According to the NY Post, both sides are working out a plea deal with a possible mental health counselling component for the defendant.
Occupier Nkrumah Tinsley leaving court today. Credit Steven Hirsch.
OWS and “Anarchist Critical Race Theory”
Guess who is pimping Critical Race Theory now? Our friends at Occupy Wall Street.
Occupy Wall St NYC twitter account tweeted out the following, which was thereafter retweeted by the main OccupyWallSt twitter account:
Of course, to tailor the thought specifically to Occupy, it’s “an anarchist introduction” to the subject.
Within the attached pamphlet, one can find the following:
Another concern of the Crits[Critical Race Theorists]—appropriate for an understanding of the composition of social change—is the concept of interest convergence. This is the thesis that judicial progress only occurs when it suits the interest of dominant forces in society. Racial justice in the United States can be seen then as contingent on the generosity and magnanimity of white (or majoritarian) society. Derrick Bell makes this argument most pointedly in his review of Brown vs. Board of Education, making the claim that segregated schools served a malignant purpose for American foreign policy during the Cold War so that changing segregation was therefore an acceptable reform for dominant society.
What that translates to is that any thought of advancement that may have occurred in terms of civil rights occurred because the all powerful “dominant forces” whoever they are, allowed it to happen. That is the author’s interpretation of Derrick Bell and other “Crits”.
So Martin Luther King’s efforts and the efforts of the many thousands that worked for civil rights really didn’t do anything. Those that continue to strive now to improve things mean nothing. It is a complete attack on the efforts of the many who have suffered for real change. It was just because the all evil “they” decided it was more advantageous to “change” that things changed, or that things will change.
Another fascinating paragraph, the definition of what qualifies as “racial fraud and box checking”:
Racial fraud & box checking:
Action on the part of a non-minority
person, or one with a very slight
connection with a minority group, to
gain the benefit of minority status, as
with affirmative action
Paging Elizabeth Warren to the courtesy phone…
