Anti-capitalist Occupy anarchists cause havoc against banks in Oakland (updated)
A group that included Occupy Oakland members, radical gay activists and other anarchists created havoc in Oakland after a march yesterday.
The march was organized after they found out that Oakland had a fee to enter the gay pride event held on Sunday. The rioters apparently wanted to “take action against the commercialization of their life struggle”, according to one local participant account.
The group utilized black bloc tactics, dressing alike in black to make it harder to identify them and smashed windows and ATMs in the financial district.
According to PFailBlog, a local anarchist blog:
The targeted property destruction, seen in the video above, is inspired by the violence perpetrated on a daily basis by capitalism & it’s banks. The main target seemed to be Bank of America, as it sustained substantial damage to it’s front windows and ATMs. All machines were left unusable, sending a firm message to the institution that the people are rising up and fighting back.
There were further unconfirmed reports of anarchists taking down a fence, struggling with police to keep fellow members from being arrested and attacking a police car. Those reports cannot be confirmed at this time.
No arrests or injuries occurred and marchers dispersed about an hour after the start of the action.
Update with more details from Mercury News:
According to the Mercury News, about 50 to 60 marchers, several of whom covered their faces with pink bandannas, amassed at Snow Park at 5:30 p.m. and tried unsuccessfully to crash the gate at the Pride Festival, which was taking place in Oakland’s Uptown District. Around the same time, police said several agitators smashed windows and ATMs at the nearby Bank of America branch at 300 Lakeside Drive.
The marchers continued to move through city streets for the next hour, tagging several buildings and spray painting an anarchist symbol on a police vehicle. They dispersed about 6:30 p.m., police said. No arrests were made.
Much of the graffiti vandalism was still visible Monday morning.
The Sears at Broadway and 20th Street was tagged with red spray paint that read “Destroy Capitalism” and “Queer Riots Now.” A vacant building on the corner of 19th and Broadway was tagged with “Queer Revolt.”
Less than a block down on Broadway, the Community Bank of the Bay was tagged with an anarchy symbol and the words, “Queers: Burn Banks.”
Gesturing at police. Credit anarchist at PFailBlog
“Hug-a-Thug” at the DNC
More fun at the DNC.
The local AFL-CIO has a booth where union members will be giving out free hugs on Labor Day, in celebration of American workers on the eve of the Democratic Convention in Charlotte. Calling the event, “Hug-a-Thug”, the Union is trying to fight portrayals from critics that they are thugs, and promote the importance of unions. “The Hug-a-Thug booth is part of a broad, long-term initiative by America’s unions to be a voice for all working people,” the organization said in a statement.
The booth will also include information on unions, and union members will give out thank you cards to workers.
North Carolina is one of the least unionized states in the country. It is a “right-to-work” state which means that workers cannot be forced into joining unions against their will and paying dues they do not wish to pay. Unions, such as the AFL-CIO are fighting such laws.
Because of the location in a right-to-work state, the AFL-CIO has scaled back their involvement in the DNC, including scaling back their financial contributions, according to the International Business Times.
Video of Richard Trumka, head of the AFL-CIO, asking people to celebrate workers. Huggable?
Final words and pictures from protest at RNC
Citizen Journalist has already noted the Occupy’s disappointment with their time at the RNC.
But we had a few more words and photos for you.
1. Small number of protesters at RNC
There were under 200 protesters there from multiple groups, only about 60 from Occupy. This was not just a function of the hurricane. This is a function and evidence of the dwindling onto death of any real numbers on the street for Occupy events. 60-after busing people in and advertising for months. Most of the rest of the 200 or so folks were the “professional activists” that attend all such events-Veterans for Peace, Code Pink, and various other anarchist, leftist and union groups.
Of the 200, there was also the unusual appearance of Scientologists, pushing Way to Happiness brochures and trying to evangelize to the protesters. I’m willing to guess that they were not received particularly well. Scientology has a big base nearby in Clearwater, and apparently couldn’t resist the temptation of groups of people anticipated.
2. Nature of protests
In Tampa as in many of the Occupy groups, the remaining people in the groups tend to be the “professional activist”, the white upper/middle class student playing at living in the park, and the mentally ill/homeless/drug addict contingent. The media tends to ignore these aspects of Occupy, particularly the latter contingent. Yet it is this makeup that is one of the reasons for constant friction and failure to get anything done.
Media tends to push the impression of the high minded protester focused on bailouts and money in politics. But that is not a clear picture of Occupy now, if it ever was.
As Tina Trent noted in Front Page, what did they do at their camp at Voice of Freedom Park?
they turned the site into a self-important summer camp for their own adolescent preoccupations and hobbies: beer-brewing, puppet-making, endless general assemblies, craft sessions for making furniture out of trash, clown lessons, a scavenger hunt, lectures on things like “Voudou and the Haitian Revolution,” and, most jarringly, a screening of the French art-film, The Gleaners and I, which celebrates the insights of well-off dropouts who choose to dumpster dive in order to express anarchic fellowship with actually poor people who dumpster dive in order to eat.
Not that the Occupiers are dumpster diving. They are relentlessly demanding donations to subsidize their camps and complaining that people aren’t giving them enough money to support their cause.
It is difficult to imagine more offensively self-referential or narcissistic behavior. Occupiers and Food Not Bombers in peasant skirts sit cross-legged decorating bits of scrap metal with poster paint, while homeless men sit on stoops outside boarded-up businesses watching them. In the end, city sanitation workers will clean up after the aging children, and real homeless people will reclaim the park.
3. Occupy Tampa -days are numbered
Now that the convention is over, Occupy Tampa will be booted out of Voice of Freedom Park. They had been allowed to stay by the park’s owner Joe Rednor, but had caused such consternation and trouble to the neighborhood, that Rednor, a strip club owner, finally agreed to kick them out after the convention.
4. Use of children
There is a policy of putting children or other attention getting people up front of a march or on the lines in a potential conflict situation with these groups. Veterans, old people, pregnant women, disabled people, kids. This is done deliberately for PR effect. If something happens, it is not the fault of the protesters, it is the fault of the evil police that would attack a veteran or elderly woman. This policy was repeated in Tampa, with kids that were clearly being used.
As we start the DNC, we can see this being repeated there as well.
When there have been so many confrontations at such events, it beggars the imagination that parents would go along with this. But time and again, we have seen they do.
The Daily Caller has some good, but disturbing coverage of children participating:
In full swing, chants were rattled off and gentle faces mutated into anger. Jostled and shoved as tension grew thicker, the marchers slowed to a crawl.
People shouted. And the children began to take on a starring role in the protest. Ahead of the crowd, as the leaders droned on about lineage and generational awareness,
the two children we had met were being led to the front of the march, walking through a rainstorm and the threat of police violence.
There were other kids too: We spotted another little boy holding a miniature bullhorn and shouting along with the crowd, stopping every so often to adjust his glasses:
Kids were pushed, boxed in by their group. One of their mothers flew off the handle.
Some occupiers harassed the police, but the uniformed cohort held their position. Chants of “we are the proletariat” and “a… anti… anti-capitalista” rang out and fueled the mob.
We lost sight of the children. We didn’t see them again.
Daily Caller video editor Grae Stafford managed to grab a shot of the children being led away. One of them was sobbing as an organizer snatched him up from the fray.
As the rain picked up, a lone child — seemingly without parents nearby — biked by us and shouted, “Fuck this shit — I’m not homeless.”
We saw so much yesterday. We spoke to Occupiers, we spoke to security forces, we understood the tension. But seeing children placed in front of conflict-seeking adults as they marched toward possible armed conflict rattled us to the core.
Ditto.
Photos by Zach Gorelick of the Daily Caller, except for last photo by Grae Stafford.
Obama- sand sculpture Mount Rushmore imitation
This one takes the cake.
At the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Charlotte, they will have pictures of such American icons as the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore.
Apparently President Obama has such a high opinion of himself that there is also a sand sculpture of him, erected at the DNC at the EpiCentre entertainment complex, seemingly in imitation of Mount Rushmore. It consists of 15 tons of sand trucked in from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Credit QCity Metro
This raises interesting questions, such as how much must this have cost? What was the effect on the beach, environmentally? And how big an ego do you have to have to try to imitate Mount Rushmore while you are still a sitting president?
Let the jokes begin! Shovel ready job, house built on sand, no graven images, etc…
Update: Looks like we raised a good question about the sand removal. The Morning Spew reports that back in 1998 the Army Corp of Engineers spent $60 million of public money to put sand back into the beach!
I would want to know how 15 tons of South Carolina beach ended up at the DNC Convention in Charlotte, NC. It’s also puzzling that Democrats, who consider themselves bastions of environmental policy, would actually think that digging up a beach for this purpose was a good idea, especially when beaches remain a fragile habitat for many types of endangered wildlife.
Since the original 1998 replenishment, the beach was replenished in 2009 as well in order to protect people and property from storm damage along the shore. According to the US Army Corps of Engineers, it is scheduled to continue to be replenished with Federal, state and local money through 2046.
We will let you know when we track down exactly where the sand came from in Myrtle Beach.
Update:
We earlier noted that there was a report the sculpture was being taken down. From what we can ascertain at this point, there was a sculpture being built in front of the Ritz Carlton around the corner from where it is now. They had been working on it for weeks. A couple of days ago, they decided it needed to be taken down for “security reasons”. That is a different one than this one (perhaps even more sand!). So as far as we know at this point, this one is in fact still up. Thank you, Sister Toldjah!
Update:
Just couldn’t resist posting, courtesy of Lyby, a commenter over at Free Republic.
Don’t build your house on the sandy land
Don’t build it too near the shore
Oh it might be kind of nice
But you’ll have to do it twice
And you’ll have to build your house once more
You better build your house upon the rock
And put a sure foundation on the solid spot
And though the storms may come and go
Peace of God you’ll know.
Update:
The finished creation! They added the chair today. Seriously. #Eastwooding.
Update:
Again, can’t make these things up! Sand Obama is no more! A torrential downpour hit Charlotte this afternoon and washed it away, according to the Washington Times. No joke, apparently.
We should note that apparently this sculpture was sponsored by Myrtle Beach, obviously with the hope of improving tourism. The team that put the sculpture together was reportedly Team Sandtastic. We are sad for Myrtle Beach that this happened, and hopefully, they have another option to advertise. Hopefully, also, that means that someone had some sense about where the sand came from.
Update 65 in the continuing saga of Sand Obama:
Reports of Sand Obama being washed away were somewhat exaggerated. He is damaged, but still lives, dented and in need of repair. Kind of like the President himself.
Update:
Nope, not messianic at all. PR photo below:
Update:
For those who think there wasn’t DNC involvement in this, think again.
https://twitter.com/sarahremartin/status/242279989934968832Occupy the RNC disappointed
Somber occupy member at the end of the RNC. Credit the Daily Caller.
As Republicans wrapped their time at the Republican National Convention, protesters, including Occupy, also were ending their time in Tampa. Protesters seemed sad and disappointed at the small turnout, blaming it in part on the fears of Hurricane Issac. “I think the rain really discouraged a lot of people. We lost sixteen buses that were going to come down here”, one occupier named Mike remarked. “I think we’ll have a lot more people in Charlotte.”
They also claimed to be upset that they were unable to have any dialogue with leaders at the RNC. One protester named Lash said, “I love that we have an anarchist forum here, and I really love us, but I hate that our forum can’t even talk with their conservative forum,” he said. “The police just silence us, the Republicans just silence us. We are just getting silenced everywhere we go. It’s like no one wants to even hear what we have to say.”
“Dance for that Anarchy!”. Credit Citizen Journalist
Occupiers had several marches over the time in Tampa, although they seemed mainly rambling and lacking in direction. At one point, on Monday, as they got stuck in the rain, they had an “Anarchy Dance”.
Occupiers interviewed by Al Jazeera. Credit Citizen Journalist.
Occupiers blocking an intersection. Credit Citizen Journalist
There were other protesters there as well, including the Dancing Vaginas of Code Pink and Vermin Supreme. Supreme, who is commonly dressed with a rubber boot on his head, runs for President every four years and has promised every voter a pony.
Vermin Supreme speaking to police. Credit Citizen Journalist
Citizen Journalist noted one protester there appeared to be Nkrumah Tinsley who seems to be one of the Occupiers making a career of traveling to all the various events in different parts of the country. Tinsley was arrested in NYC in November for threatening to “burn [Macy’s] to the ground”. He was charged with a felony terroristic threat. See more on his case here. When asked about Tinsley in November, Occupiers disavowed him. 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 still seems to be in their company for someone disavowed. Somehow he also manages to have been at at the NATO protest in May.
Since most of the protesters have few funds and are bused in, it would be interesting to find out who is funding the buses and the ability of some of the occupiers to travel.
Nkrumah Tinsley. Credit the Daily Caller
There was no major incident during the event. Prior to the start of the RNC, there had been bricks and pipes found on a roof of a building tagged with an Anonymous and Occupy graffitii. Two people were also arrested on another roof for carrying weapons including a bb gun and a knife. One man was arrested in the event zone for carrying a machete strapped to his leg. One man was arrested during the event for wearing a mask, which is against the law.
Russia Today (RT) propaganda runs amuck “Your choice couldn’t be any clearer”
Is there any doubt that much of the media is in the tank for the re-election President Obama?
Apparently the Kremlin and Putin are down for more Obama (Remember the “I’ll have more flexibility after the election” comment of Obama’s, and the “I’ll transmit that to Vladimir” reply?) Listen to this from Thom Hartmann from the “Big Picture” show from Russia Today(RT) . Russia Today is the Kremlin-funded propaganda arm, reporting in the United States. It continually attacks the US. But even for them, this went over the line.
Hartmann bashes the RNC, which is presently being held in Tampa. He speaks of the dream of Dr. King, ” tonight, that dream is a nightmare in Tampa”.
Start listening at ~ 5:10. Transcript is below.
Today we’re in a never-ending “war on terror” promoted by those same people in Tampa that you’ll be hearing more from. In fact, the one voice in the Republican Party that aligns with Dr. King in opposition to war, Ron Paul, has been banned from speaking at the convention. Instead, he’s been replaced by people like John Boehner and Rick Santorum, who want even more war, who believe America’s army is “God’s Army” and should bring democracy to the Middle East through drone strikes, cruise missiles and cluster bombs. America is already too far down those long dark shameful corridors that those nations that possess power without compassion have walked in the past.
Dr. King’s dream of peace is a nightmare tonight in Tampa Florida. And so, on this night, a half century after King talked about his dream, we should all be aware of the choice in front of us. It’s a choice that, frankly, couldn’t be any clearer. On one side we have the dream or nightmare coming from the RNC. A dream that only the wealthy can be trusted, that minorities are flawed, and that endless war is destined by God. And on the other side, we have the American dream, a dream rooted in equality, economic justice, and lasting peace. The dream handed down to us from the Rev Doctor Martin Luther King. And a dream that our nation can and will achieve, if we just all work at it, and don’t give in to the politics of division that we’re hearing from Tampa. The stakes couldn’t be higher.
Of course, not only is Hartmann on the crazy train, but it’s rife with lies. The truth is that Ron Paul was invited to speak and he turned it down, which he said on Fox News from the convention(yes, he was there). He was clearly still upset about not getting the nomination. The person currently conducting wars and drone strikes is President Obama. There is no basis for any of the other attacks. But why let facts get in the way? If it helps get Obama elected so he can be “more flexible”.
Hartmann is right. Our choice couldn’t be any clearer.
Take your vaginas to the RNC
There isn’t much that one can say about this one.
RNC -discussion of economy, foreign affairs, Obamacare, jobs. Code Pink – vaginas.
Dancing in the middle is head of the organization, Medea Benjamin. Looks like a CEO, right?
It’s a creepy catchy little ditty.
Westboro troll schooled
What can bring left and right together and unite all under one umbrella?
Unified disgust at the Westboro Baptist roadshow.
Westboro Baptist Church’s Shirley Phelps-Roper tries to instruct and gets a tad schooled.
https://twitter.com/DearShirley/status/240245118169382912 https://twitter.com/Nickarama1/status/240265108385837056DNC Convention Chair calls for more taxes and spending to solve economy
Democratic Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa decided it would be classy to show up to grab some media in Tampa where the Republican National Convention is being held. Villaraigosa is also the Democratic National Committee Convention Chair. As you can also see, courtesy of PJ Media, the mayor believes the way out of California’s debt and economic crisis is to spend and tax more:
Of course, this may be no suprise, given the Mayor’s political association with the Democratic Socialists of America and his “community organizer” past. At their 2005 conference, the DSA spoke about helping to get him elected:
Now we have a progressive mayor, thanks in large part to this impressive network of grassroots organizations, labor unions and community and environmental organizations. Many of them have lifted up some of their leaders into positions of electoral power.
Obama campaign coordinator attacks Romney’s Mormonism
Obama for America LA coordinator Samuel Cook III chose Mitt Romney’s gracious comment on the death of Neil Armstrong to attack Romney’s Mormonism, managing both to be insulting to Romney’s religion and disrespectful of Neil Armstrong in one fell swoop.
https://twitter.com/SamuelCookIII/status/239465388885286912Kolob is a star or planet referenced in Mormon scripture. So it’s a little like being insulting by referencing the burning bush or “Ezekial saw the wheel”.
He gets called out, rightfully so, for his bigotry. There has been a not-so-subtle effort on the part of the Obama campaign to smear Romney to Christians and Evangelicals as “not really a Christian”.
This is so stupid as to almost be a calculated deliberate move that the campaign wants media to pick up to split Romney from conservative Christians. But what Mr. Cook doesn’t get is people are not fools. It is Romney that certainly more in concert with conservative Christians’ issues.
You would think that Obama, having had people raise questions that he felt were unfair about his Christianity, that he would be “fair” to Romney. Don’t bet on it.
The whisper campaign has stopped and the full out attack seems to be starting.
Updated
Mr. Cook is keeping up the bigotry, again making it very clear that this was calculated and no accidental slip up. He mocks the prayer attire that some Mormon’s wear as “magic underwear”, a derogatory term.
He then goes full Illuminati and veers into a conspiracy of Mormons to “infiltrate the government”.
How much of this idiocy does the Obama campaign support and how much further will they stoop to try to attack Romney’s religion and sow divison?
Update
Mr Cook has now protected his tweets. A little too late, one would think. He now claims he is “speaking for himself”, yet he is Obama for America Louisiana coordinator.
Update
Obama campaign still hasn’t managed to stop Mr. Cook from putting his foot in it. One more time, as he admits and tries to justify attacking Romney’s religion:
https://twitter.com/adamsbaldwin/status/239565456279732224
Update
Mr. Cook is now apologizing for his comment:
“I would like to personally apologize to @MittRomney for my inartful remark following his Armstrong tribute. It was crass and undignified.”
“Inartful comment” .
How about series of comments, not just one, over a period of hours that are offensive and bigoted about Mormons in general, and not just Romney? Accusing Mormons of a conspiracy to take over the government? Making fun of religious clothing? Then trying to justify the religious attacks?
Mr. Cook thought he could play open season on Mormons. He found out differently.
Mr Cook purports to be a “Republican for Obama”. Yet he is co chair of Young Democrats of New Orleans in addition to his Obama campaign position. See here.
He is also Gen44 coordinator in Louisiana, meaning he is coordinating of the “official under-40 fundraising program of Obama for America—created to cultivate and empower a rising generation of leaders for the Democratic Party”. He has also made comments saying the South need more “strong Progressive leaders” and called for a “cap” on Republicans that are elected.
Strange Republican.
Sounds similar to more alleged “Republicans for Obama” who are actually Democrats, as was recently exposed in the “Republican Women for Obama” campaign video.
The Obama campaign is having a bit of difficulty between the bigotry and the lying.
Hopefully Democrats and others in the Obama campaign will repudiate these attacks and not follow in Mr. Cook’s footsteps.
Update
And once again, Mr Cook seems not to get that Internet is forever. He deleted his tweet in response to Adam Baldwin where he justified attacking Mormonism, calling Mormonism “fair game” because of birther questions about Obama. Sorry, Mr. Cook, again too little, too late-saved for posterity.
Occupy merges with SDS
On August 19, the Students for a Democratic Society formally approved merging with Occupy Colleges. This approval echoed a prior approval for the merger by the “Occupy Colleges National Assembly”.
The present chapters of Occupy Colleges have now all been given an affiliate status within the “National Working Committee of the SDS” and operate as a single organization with shared resources. According to The Nation:
Occupy Colleges co-facilitator Natalia Abrams spoke enthusiastically about the strength of the new collaboration and noted that “it was the dream of Occupy Colleges at our inception to join with SDS in order to strengthen the student movement.” Stephanie Taylor of the SDS National Working Committee added “this merger signifies not an end or a beginning to our respective local movements but rather a burgeoning of our critical, collective, national movement as students and youth. SDS has always stood as the largest multi-issue, multi-tendency progressive student organization in the country and we are excited to have Occupy Colleges officially join us—we know this is a positive advancement for the student movement at large.”
The coordination is not suprising, as the personnel were often the same. SDS had presence amongst the founders of OWS along with other leftist groups. New SDS Marissa Holmes factored in much of the early decision making and structure of operation, for example. Old SDS faces also made their appearance with visits/talks from the likes of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. Mike Golash, former president of the Amalgamated Transit Worker’s Union, member of the Progressive Labor Party (one of the factions the original SDS broke off into) was the Occupy DC librarian and talks about aims being replacing capitalism with communism here.
What is suprising perhaps is that Occupy has ceased pushing the fiction that they represent all of the political spectrum. They have been and continue to be far left at their organizing core. Because any who may have thought otherwise have now faded away, they are now characterizing themselves more honestly. One can see more evidence of this on their website, Occupy the RNC, where they blatantly state their purpose is to take down capitalism.
The same language and the same people have been promoting all the same ideas of occupation, collectivism, socialism and communism for a very long time. It’s just that the MSM hadn’t been paying any attention to them before, and now has pretty much gone back to ignoring them again.
From the SDS “occupation” of the New School in NYC in 2008:
From the New School SDS chapter (7 pm 12/16/08)
We have just occupied New School University.
We liberate this space for ourselves, and all those who want to join us, for our general autonomous use. We take the university in explicit solidarity with those occupying the universities and streets in Greece, Italy, France and Spain.
This occupation begins as a response to specific conditions at the New School, the corporatization of our education and the impoverishment of education in general. However, it is not just this university but also New York City that is in crisis: in the next several months, thousands of us will be losing our jobs, while housing remains unaffordable and unavailable to many and the cost of living skyrockets.
So we stress that the general nature of these intolerable conditions exists across the spectrum of capitalist existence, in our universities and our cities, in all of our social relations. For this reason, what begins tonight at the New School cannot, and should not, be contained here.
Thus: with this occupation, we inaugurate a wave of occupations in New York City and the United States, a coming wave of occupations, blockades, and strikes in this time of crisis.
Be assured, this is only the beginning,
With solidarity and love from New York to Greece, to Italy, France and Spain,
To the coming insurrection.
The occupied New School
It’s never about the current crisis, whatever that is, always about attacking and bringing down capitalism ultimately.
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.
“The More You Know” – Occupy Jail Support
Here are some fun videos from Occupy advertising for more “jail support” for Occupiers.
What is jail support?
It involves going to precincts, waiting and tracking the arrestees through the system, and being there when they get out.
According to the organizers, jail support is about care and clean up, “two kinds of work traditionally labeled women’s work”. The organizers are upset that not enough people are coming out to do this “work” after direct actions. So they said they were going on strike on May 5, only providing limited support and made these videos to get more help.
“The More You Know”
Prostitutes can be warm:
Occupiers need hugs:
Bring something you crave to an occupier. Not sure I even want to go there.
It sucks to get arrested.
Congratulate them for standing up for what they believe in (oh, and don’t post the picture where she punched the cop!).
Finally, what every Occupier needs is for you to sing outside of their jail:
The videos were made using OWS (NYC) members. The last video, which was separate from the prior series, was made apparently while waiting outside of a police precinct for an arrestee.
The Occupier in the second and the last video, Mark Adams, needed some “jail support” of his own after being convicted in NYC in June of attempted criminal mischief and attempted criminal possession of burglar’s tools, and sentenced to 45 days in jail. Adams was seen on surveillance video using what appeared to be bolt cutters to cut open a fence to the Trinity Church lot at Duarte Square on December 17, 2011, helping many occupiers break in.
Anonymous connected in threats against the University of Pittsburgh
Three men, including two men who claimed to be part of Anonymous, were charged this past week with making threats against the University of Pittsburgh.
Between March 30 and April 21, 2012, the University of Pittsburgh received over 40 email bomb threats directed at its buildings. An email “open letter” claiming to be from “the threateners” claimed the reason for the threats was that the University had posted a $10,000 reward for prior bomb threats that had been written on walls at the University. The open letter called that a “prank” by a “kid”, and expressed disturbance at the school Chancellor’s response of offering a reward to track down the perpetrator. The open letter claimed the writers were “disrupting the University to teach the Chancellor a lesson”.
Over 100 evacuations took place, disrupting classes and dormitories, causing great concern throughout the university and surrounding area, and costing the University over $300,000. According to the FBI, these threats were made by Adam Stuart Busby, a resident of Dublin Ireland. Authorities also are charging extortion because the threateners said they would stop if the reward, now $50,000, was withdrawn. The University withdrew the offer and the threats ceased.
Busby is also charged with subsequently threatening the US attorney and sending bomb threats pertaining to the federal courthouses in Pittsburgh and in Erie.
Collectively Busby was charged with wire fraud(the emails), extortion, and spreading false information. Busby is in custody in Ireland on other charges. He has a long history of threats against various governments and entities. See the indictments here and here.
On April 26, the University was threatened again over the internet by a video posted by “AnonOperative13”. The video claimed that Anonymous had hacked the University servers and stolen confidential information including credit cards and grades of students. The video asked that the University apologize to the students for Anonymous’ ability to access the information. Unless the University apologized, the video promised the information would be published for all to see.
Alexander Waterland, 24, and Brett Hudson, 26, both of Ohio, were charged in relation to the video with sending threats and stealing data.
Alexander Waterland
The maximum penalty for wire fraud is 20 years in prison, for false information is 10 years in prison, for extortionate threats is two years in prison. Because all counts charged are felonies, the maximum fine on each count is $250,000. The law provides for a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both, for Waterland and Hudson. Under the federal sentencing guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the
offenses and the prior criminal history if any, of the defendants
Although the connection between the two Ohio men and Busby was not specified, they were charged together and Waterland is mentioned in Busby’s indictment. It is not clear at this time if Busby is also alleged to be part of Anonymous, although that would explain the connection.
Occupier former union president calls for communist revolution, overthrow of capitalists
Here is a video taken at an Occupy DC meeting. Kudos to the folks who got into the meeting to take it.
In it is Mike Golash, former President of the Amalgamated Transit Workers Union Local 639. Mike was also Occupy DC’s “librarian”.
Progressive labor is a revolutionary communist organization,” Golash said during an Occupy DC “People’s Assembly” on August 19. “Its objective,” he added, “is to make revolution in the United States, overthrow the capitalist system and build communism.”
The “Progressive Labor” Mr. Golash refers to is the Progressive Labor Party. What is the Progressive Labor Party? According to their website:
Progressive Labor Party (PLP) fights to destroy capitalism and the dictatorship of the capitalist class. We organize workers, soldiers and youth into a revolutionary movement for communism.
What do they believe?
Only the dictatorship of the working class — communism — can provide a lasting solution to the disaster that is today’s world for billions of people. This cannot be done through electoral politics, but requires a revolutionary movement and a mass Red Army led by PLP.
What would that “lasting solution” look like?
Communism means working collectively to build a worker-run society. We will abolish work for wages, money and profits. Everyone will share in society’s benefits and burdens.
Communism means abolishing nations and nationalism. One international working class, one world, one Party [comment added- ein Reich, ein volk, ein Furhrer!-sorry couldn’t resist the add]
Communism means that the minds of millions of workers must become free from religion’s false promises, unscientific thinking and poisonous ideology. Communism will triumph when the masses of workers can use the science of dialectical materialism to understand, analyze and change the world to meet their needs and aspirations.
Communism means the Party leads every aspect of society. For this to work, millions of workers — eventually everyone — must become communist organizers.
Does it strike anyone how much of a cult this sounds like?
Occupy Oakland Organizer: Cop Killing Alleged Child Rapist is “Hero”
Today the glare of media was on politician Todd Akin and his comment about rape. Akin has said he misspoke and apologized for the comment. It seems likely he will have to withdraw from his political race.
Yet this MSM focus seems to vanish when it comes to things which the MSM eyes more favorably, such as Occupy.
Over this past weekend, Occupy Truth, a coming together of bloggers and ordinary citizens, shone a focus on the violence within Occupy that the MSM continues to ignore or cover poorly. Occupy the Truth, held in Cleveland, focused especially on the fact that the MSM continues to ignore the Occupy connection in the case of Occupiers arrested for planning to blow up the Cuyahoga Bridge in Cleveland.
Occupy continues in its way with violence in discussion and approach, all the while being cast by MSM as “mostly peaceful”.
Occupy Oakland organizer Jessica Hollie (otherwise known as “Bella Eiko”) recently tweeted the following:
https://twitter.com/BellaEiko/status/237365164373065728Just for background, “FTP” means “fuck the police” and “ACAB” means “All cops are bastards”. These are typical hashtags of Occupy along with “revolution” and “us revolution”.
You can see further fun moments with Bella Eiko here where she and other occupiers brings a city council meeting to chaos, and where Bella and others march on a councilwoman’s home, after Occupiers put out a “wanted” poster on the council woman.
Who is Lovelle Mixon?
Mr. Mixon is a man who killed four police officers on March 21, 2009. The police have also linked him to three sexual assaults. Included among the sexual assaults is the assault at gunpoint of a 12 year old girl. More back ground on Mixon here.
The article that Ms. Hollie cites appears to justify or at least excuse Mixon’s actions because he had difficulty finding a job after he got out of prison and had a parole officer who cancelled appointments on him.
Ms. Hollie’s statement is not a misstatement, not taken out of context. It is, sadly, apparently, what she truly believes.
When your vision gets that narrow in pursuit of your cause, it may be time to hang it up. “God bless them”-Nancy Pelosi.
Occupiers break into UC Berkeley property again
Occupiers outside the gate of the Gill Tract, with child in “Che” shirt. Credit Daily Californian
Occupiers broke into the Gill Tract area again on Sunday. About 30 people arrived around noon, and according to the Daily Californian, some distracted the security while others broke into the property. Their purpose was to harvest crops that they had planted in April when they first broke into and occupied the land
The Gill Tract is an area of land owned by the University of California at Berkeley. The area in question that was being occupied was being used in part for agricultural research. Occupiers claimed that the University intended to sell the land for development to make a Whole Foods, and that they were breaking in to save it as farmland for sustainable farming. The University disputed this claim, noting that it was another area that was being used for development and that the land in question was for research, with which the Occupiers were interfering.
A standoff ensued when the Occupiers would not leave. Finally, the University had to move in on May 14 and throw them off the land so that the University could ensure that its researchers were able to do their own work. In the meantime, some research work had been damaged by the Occupiers’ presence.
Since being kicked off the land, the Occupy group has continued to trespass on the land, cutting the lock off the gate four times, including the last break in yesterday.
“We are in a difficult situation and don’t have the resources to monitor the Gill Tract around the clock,” said UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof. “There is a group that seems to care little about property rights or the rule of law. We need to focus on ensuring that the research goes unimpeded and unharmed.”
The University had begun a lawsuit against the Occupiers but dropped it due to costs.
UCPD Lt. Alex Yao said on August 8 that the tract is being monitored by both the community and the UCPD. He also said the participants of the break-ins are videotaped by officers.
According to the Daily Californian,
Protesters said the development project — which was planned for several years and was finally approved by Albany City Council on July 9 — provides no guarantees against the agricultural land being paved away. Furthermore, they said the mega-complex may impact the soil and increase car exhaust in the area, which would cause air pollution and asthma for Albany residents.
“Most importantly, there is no guarantee that in the future the agricultural land will not be developed further,” said Kelly Jewett, a UC Berkeley fifth-year and Occupy the Farm member. “In all reality, there is no explicit intention to develop agricultural land.”
Keep Albany Local, a local organization against the project, has spearheaded a petition that includes over 1,400 signatures calling for a referendum of the city council’s decision. If the petition is approved by the Albany city clerk, a referendum will appear on the November election ballot, giving Albany residents the option to rescind approvals for the development project, said Sally Sommer, an Occupy the Farm member and Berkeley resident
Occupy had been invited to participate in the discussions over the future of the land, but had declined to do so.
Though UCPD officers told protesters not to damage the property, members of the Occupy the Farm said they did not feel like they were trespassing because the Gill Tract is public land.
“(Trespassing) is not really a significant aspect of this,” Jewett said. “Personally, I feel that this is public land. They don’t put a fence up around Sproul Plaza[central hub at the University]”
Staffers quitting NYC school where principal forbade class from singing “God Bless the USA”
Teachers at school, some of whom have now left, dressed in red white and blue in June during God Bless America song controversy. Credit NY Post
25 of the 40 staff members, 11 of the 28 classroom teachers or support staff have left PS 90, the Edna Cohen School, in Coney Island, New York.
This is the same school that in June caused an uproar when the principal, Greta Hawkins, forbade children in a kindergarten graduation ceremony from singing the Lee Greenwood song “God Bless the USA”. She initially said that it could be offensive to people in the school who came from different cultures. Then she claimed the song was too difficult for the children to sing and replaced it with the Justin Bieber song, “Baby”, which also was ultimately axed from the program.
It appears it is the authoritarian rule of Hawkins that the teachers and staff are fleeing. “I couldn’t take it anymore,” said a veteran teacher who found a new job in Queens. “Some people were being picked on, and some were waiting to be picked on.” Some referred to the environment as “toxic” since Hawkins took over three years ago. 9 teachers and 3 other classroom support staff transferred over the summer.
Principal Greta Hawkins. Credit NY Post
The NY Post noted both sides of the situation:
“Most who left were disgruntled staff who were either disciplined or lost grievances for incomplete lesson plans,” a [Principal Hawkins] spokeswoman said. Hawkins did not return messages.
But teachers said Hawkins fabricated cases to torment her perceived enemies. On the last day of school, she threatened to slap any teacher with a “U,” or unsatisfactory rating, who didn’t turn in records, keys and other items she demanded at the last minute, staffers said.
The tension is not new.
The hostility goes back to a June 2010 staff meeting, where Hawkins reportedly announced: “I’m black. Your previous principal was white and Jewish. More of us are coming.”
Despite a DOE reprimand, the atmosphere worsened. “It all went downhill after that. She wanted revenge,” a staffer said.
Hawkins used spies and even scolded teachers for talking to each other in the hallway, several said.
“She’s vindictive. She’s malicious. She’ll smile but do things behind your back,” said a teacher leaving PS 90 after 10-plus years.
One exiting aide was accused of harassment after complaining that a teacher favored by Hawkins kept a hamster in a filthy cage.
“She removed me from the classroom instead of the hamster,” the aide said.
Parents upset with the exodus of teachers are appealing to the schools chancellor Dennis Walcott to do something to address the situation.
SCOTUS Justice Elena Kagan’s socialist thesis-“hope and change”?
Here is Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan’s 1981 Princeton thesis on socialism. Kagan went to Harvard Law School, was President Obama’s Solicitor General and then was appointed by him to the Supreme Court.
In the acknowledgments, she thanks her brother Marc:
Finally, I would like to thank my brother Marc, whose involvement lin radical causes led me to explore the history of American radicalism in the hope of clarifying my
own political ideas.
In the body of the thesis, she decries the fact that socialism has never risen to power in the United States:
In our own times, a coherent socialist movement is nowhere to be found in the United States. Americans are more likely to speak of a golden past than a golden future, of capitalism’s glories than of socialism’s greatness. Conformity overrides dissent; the desire to conserve has over whelmed the urge to alter. Such a state of affairs cries out for an explanation. Why, in a society by no means perfect, has a radical party never attained the status of a major political force?
She goes on to conclude that the Socialist Party’s growth in the U.S, was basically stymied by infighting and sectarianism (emphasis added):
Through its own internal feuding, then, the SP exhausted itself forever and further reduced labor radicalism in New York to the position of marginality and insignificance
from which it has never recovered. The story is a sad but chastening one, for those who more than half a century after socialism’s decline, still wish to change America. Radicals have often succumbed to the devastating bane of sectarianism…Yet if the history of Local New York shows anything, it is that American radicals cannot afford to become their own worst enemies. In unity lies their only hope.
Interestingly, back when Kagan was being vetted, the NY Times mentions that she did a thesis on socialism, and that her brother was the inspiration for her thesis. But they don’t mention either anything she said in the thesis or what her particular politics might be. A natural question, given that she did the research in hope of clarifying her own political ideas, although they do describe the family in general as “left leaning” in their article. The Times even did a piece on her significant writings but made no mention of the thesis.
Occupiers storm Obama campaign headquarters in Oakland and Portland, scuffle with staffers (video)
In a coordinated effort (and we leave how coordinated and with whom to your imagination), Occupy Oakland and Occupy Portland stormed Obama campaign headquarters in their respective cities in Oakland, California and Portland, Oregon. The Occupy group in Oakland was comprised of the far left organizations including Iraq Vets against the War(including Scott Olsen who was injured in October of last year at a protest) and Code Pink. Both groups are active members of Occupy. The headquarters in Oakland still had boarded up windows from Occupy smashing the windows out on August 3.
After members stormed the office in Oakland. they read a formal statement by bullhorn asking President Obama to apologize to Bradley Manning for saying he broke the law, for better treatment and for a pardon for Bradley Manning. Bradley Manning is awaiting trial on charges related to leaking government documents.
Protesters crowd the Oakland office here.
Photos of Code Pink and Iraq Vets Against the War members blocking the doorway in Oakland, Scott Olsen is 4th from the left, with the long blond hair:
After storming the office in Oakland, they got into a scuffle with Obama staffers when Occupiers climbed on top of and over chairs and tried to move further into the working area of the office.
Video taken by Scott Olsen:
Police were called in both locations. See pictures of Portland and in Oakland of police. A hostage negotiator actually had to be called out in Oakland to talk with seven Occupiers, who refused to leave. Police lost patience and moved in to make the arrests in Oakland around 9 pm last night. Scott Olsen was the only one of the seven not arrested, as they were given a last opportunity to leave and he left. Six were arrested in Oakland and five are reported to have been arrested in Portland.
After the arrests in Oakland, other demonstrators marched on the Oakland Police station.
Reports this morning indicate that the people arrested in Oakland have been released already, except for one who will be held over the weekend.
The last time that Obama campaign headquarters faced “occupation” or sit ins was when illegal aliens occupied the offices in some locations in the week prior to President Obama granting amnesty to those who were brought here as children.
Spreading the wealth
What does Obama mean when he talks about “spreading the wealth”?
Well, let’s find out, courtesy of Penn and Teller:
Occupy Oakland seizes building to create “people’s library” (updated: police break up the party)
Around 7 am this morning, Occupy Oakland took over another building, this one at 1449 Miller Avenue in East Oakland, California.
About a dozen people went into the building and claimed to be setting up a library. They brought in books and set up a banner proclaiming it the “Victor Martinez People’s Library”.
photo by @PFailBlog
The building is owned by City of Oakland’s Redevelopment Successor Agency within the Office of Neighborhood Investment. It used to be a library at one point but has been empty for a number of years. In an email Monday, an agency spokesman said the city would issue a dispersal order with a set time to vacate the property.
Some of the squatters said that the goal is to use it for community purposes. “All we ask is that you consider keeping it out of the hands of a city which will only seal the fence and doors again, turning the space back into an aggregator of the city’s trash and a dark hole in the middle of the community,” according to the group’s news release, aimed at residents of the surrounding neighborhoods.
Books already brought in include such fun and uplifting child oriented reading material such as “The Black Panthers” and “Academic Repression” a collection of essays with an anarchist orientation. Got to start that indoctrination early!
UPDATE:
Police came in in the early morning and boarded up the front where the building had been broken into. Occupy Oakland claims not to know how the doors became unlocked and were furious this morning at the police reclaiming the building.
Yes, after Occupy Oakland broke into the building, they brought kids in to work on garden beds in the back of the library. These are some of the books they were bringing in for the kids to read:
Photo by @BibibliotecaPopul
In case you didn’t know-“Matanza” is it is a book on the communist revolt in El Salvador in 1932, “Mexico Profundo” – on indigenous resistance within Mexico, “Harvest of Empire” is, according to Amazon review, a “left leaning” look at Hispanic immigration in the United States.
Occupy Chicago promoting Scientology video
Occupy Chicago promoting Scientology video? It’s more likely than you think.
Occupy Chicago posted an interesting tweet:
https://twitter.com/OccupyChicago/status/234549421143109632While many may perhaps legitimately question whether psychiatric drugs are always appropriately used or prescribed, and note that there are often side effects, that is not all that this video is saying. This video buys into the “secret cabal” theory that all psychiatrists are evil and seeking to drug and control the world, that psychiatry is an imagined science. Indeed, truther material at its most rabid.
Sounds a bit like Tom Cruise on an anti-psychiatry rant, doesn’t it? Remember his Matt Lauer rant about Brooke Shields?
There’s a reason that this sounds Tom Cruise-ish.
The video is from the “Citizen’s Commission on Human Rights” or “CCHR”, a Scientology front group. In CCHR -land, 9/11 was a plot by psychiatrists. According to them, Ayman Al Zawahiri, one of the 9/11 masterminds, was a psychiatrist. Of course, he wasn’t, but why quibble over facts? They also blame the Holocaust on psychiatrists.
Here’s Tom Cruise at a CCHR event:
There are reasons that this thought process might have a resonance with some in Occupy.
There has always been a truther element within Occupy, hence the belief that the evil 1% control the world and oppress them all.
Also, in addition to the “professional activist”, another population within Occupy is often the mentally ill/homeless. A population poorly served in general society, some might find the anti-drug, anti psychiatrist rhetoric appealing.
Occupy Chicago is not the only Occupy with an apparent issue with psychiatry. Occupy Toronto apparently also has an issue, with Occupy Psychiatry events, and having a relationship with CAPA, the Coalition Against Psychiatric Abuse. It is not clear if Occupy Toronto’s views are as extreme as those represented in the video posted by Occupy Chicago. Certainly, there is a difference between fighting abuses and demonizing a groups of people or a profession.
What makes this all rather ironic is that it was Anonymous that since January 2008 has been calling out Scientology on its abuses. It is also Anonymous who is one of the founding parts of Occupy; many of the intial boots on the ground were Anonymous.
Of course, what is Anonymous is fluid and undefinable. But someone should tell Occupy Chicago -psst “Scientology”.
Citizen Journalist 
